Undercover Without Cover
by The-Missing-Paige
Summary: As the top alchemists in the military, Roy Mustang and Edward Eric are prime candidates for dangerous missions. Trained for anything, they still might be a bit surprised when they have to go undercover…in a nudist colony.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, or any related characters.**

**WARNING: In case the summary didn't tell you enough, there's going to be a lot of nudity in this fic. Read carefully.**

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><p>"Fullmetal! Get your ass in here!"<p>

Halfway down the hall, Edward actually jumped at the Colonel's tone. Mustang was always pissed at him for some reason, but still, the man usually didn't start cursing until Ed had made a few snarky remarks. His surprise quickly turned to irritation, and he yelled right back as he stomped up the hall, Alphonse on his heels. "Calm your tits, Colonel, I'm working on it!"

Edward glanced up at Mustang's face as he shoved past him into the man's office, and got another shock; rather than the anger he was expecting based on his tone, the Colonel wore an almost anxious expression, his normally calm face blotched with red.

Shrugging it off, Ed threw himself into a chair and crossed his arms, waiting for whatever bullshit assignment he was supposed to deal with next. Behind him, Alphonse stood silently; probably afraid to speak with the Colonel's current mood, whatever that was.

The sound of a door closing and locking, and then slow footsteps until Mustang stood at his desk, back to Edward. He didn't speak, so Ed did. "Um, hello, do you not remember telling me to 'get my ass in here' a couple seconds ago? Is there a reason, or are you finally losing it?"

"Look," the man snapped back, placing a hand over his face but still not turning around. "You'll understand if you _shut up_ and let me get this out. Ugh, I _don't_ want to do this…"

That was interesting. Edward grinned, wondering what could have the Colonel so distressed. "What, am I getting promoted or something? Oh, bet that pisses you off—"

"Shut up!" Finally, Mustang turned around. "You're not being promoted! It's—a mission."

"Colonel?" Alphonse piped up hesitantly. "Is it bad?"

"That doesn't even cover it," the man groaned, rubbing his temples. "This…this fucking sucks."

Edward was no stranger to coarse language, but it was _way_ too weird hearing it from the Colonel. Sure, Mustang fired off some curses at him every once in a while, but usually the man was too busy acting classy to fall to that point. Something serious had to be going down. "You want to tell us what it is?"

The Colonel sighed. "No, but it's not like I have a choice. Listen, there have been reports of suspicious activity in a certain…community." The man swallowed, reddening slightly. What was going on here? "People are being taken to the leader of the community, and changed. They come back stronger, more efficient, and resistant to pain—but most off all, they come back _looking_ different. Their physical structure has been altered; for example, one report was of a man being taken away, overweight and short, and coming back slightly taller and leanly muscled. The only reason anyone knew it was him was because of his facial features—that, and his personality was the same. What does that sound like to you?"

Now realizing the gravity of the situation, Ed leaned forward and rested his chin on intertwined fingers as he murmured his response. "Human transmutation." Something Edward was far too familiar with. "But how? The leader wouldn't be intact at this point, unless he has a—"

"Philosopher's Stone," Mustang finished grimly. "Exactly."

"What I don't understand is, what's the point? I mean, it sounds like this leader is just making people a little different, not trying anything drastic. Why bother with something so dangerous?" Al asked.

At that, the Colonel's face twisted up in a grimace of sorts. "That's the unpleasant bit. We _think_ the goal is simply to make people more efficient. This community, they have to be self-sufficient, so that's important. They aren't allowed to mingle with the public."

A deep sense of foreboding rose up in Edward. He wasn't sure what was about to happen, but something in him sensed it wouldn't be good. "Why not?" he questioned, the words coming hesitantly.

"Because," Mustang sighed, avoiding eye contact. "This community is a nudist colony."

Ed's brain seemed to shut off for a moment, trying to process that.

_Fuck no._

This wasn't happening, right?

"So what?" he managed, trying to keep the tone lighthearted. His attempt sounded pathetic, but he pushed on. "We just go in, kick some ass, and leave. No problem, right?"

Before he could even finish, the Colonel was shaking his head. "It's not that simple. All we know is what's on the surface; we don't know if there's a deeper problem, or if it's going to progress. We _could_ just go and confiscate the Philosopher's Stone, but without knowing where they got it, and what all they were planning to do…we might just end up with another problem. So there's only one solution."

"Don't you fucking do this to me, Colonel," Ed warned, trying to not hear what was happening. "Don't you fucking dare."

"Who else am I supposed to send, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, irritated lines creasing his forehead. "We need to go undercover."

Distressed as he already was, Edward blanched. "What do you mean '_we_'?"

"You and me." It seemed like the man was had quite a bit of difficulty saying that. "You're quick—you know I can't send Alphonse with you. He's _empty_—no offense, Alphonse—so he can't actually go undercover. He can't be nude."

"Stop," Edward hissed. He didn't want to hear this.

"You think I'm happy about this, Fullmetal?" Mustang growled. "You really think I want to hang around _naked _with a bunch of other _naked_ people, traipsing around with you—_fucking naked_?"

"Exactly," Ed responded. "So let's not do this."

"It's our responsibility, Fullmetal! And besides, I'm sparing you the worst of it."

Almost delirious with do-not-want-this, Edward laughed. "What could possibly be worse?"

With a deadpan expression, the Colonel simply said, "Going with Major Armstrong."

A terrifying vision popped into Ed's head unbidden: Armstrong, nude, striking his ridiculous poses and prancing about, talking about whatever—gulp—techniques had been passed down his family for generations. He wasn't the only one; behind Edward, Al shuddered audibly.

"Okay," Ed rasped, shaking his head to clear it. "I take it back. That would be worse."

"I know," Mustang responded, also seeming a bit unsettled. "But the job is suited for _alchemists_, and so…I have to go with you."

Going with Armstrong would be bad, but Edward still couldn't imagine having to go with the _Colonel_. That had "bad fucking idea" written all over it. A thought came to him that did nothing to help. "Um, hold up; I—fuck, I don't want to ask this. But how do nudist colonies _work_? Like…walking around…seeing naked people all day…"

That was it. That was all he was going to say. If the man didn't get his implication, Ed would figure it out himself.

Unfortunately, the Colonel understood—and wasn't as cautious in his expression of the issue. "You don't want to be popping boners all day, am I right?"

Alphonse squeaked; Edward was struck dumb. Mustang continued, flushing even as he tried to maintain his composure. "There's nothing to do about that, I'm afraid. Maybe everyone there get's used to all the nudity and doesn't have that problem, maybe everyone walks around hard. I wouldn't know."

Ed could think of a million things he would rather do than have this conversation. "So what are we supposed to _do_?"

"Take care of any problems ourselves," the Colonel responded delicately.

Giving in, Edward hung his head, covering his face with his hands. "This is a joke, right?"

"Unfortunately not," the man muttered. "Let's just get this done and over with as soon as possible."

Edward took a deep breath to compose himself. This was going to suck. No doubt about that. But he'd been through worse—he could handle a couple days in a nudist colony. He raised his head up and inhaled again before looking the Colonel in the eye. "Alright. When do we leave?"

The man checked his watch. "About three hours."


	2. Chapter 2

Three hours hadn't help lessened the excruciating _awkwardness_ of what they were about to do. Though they were making the first leg of the trip in a small car, Ed found himself scooted as far away from the Colonel as the tiny back seat allowed.

It was just…wrong. The idea of being naked in front of all those people, in front of Mustang…wasn't there some law against that type of thing, considering he was a minor?

Edward almost laughed. Yeah, there probably was a law against what was about to happen; right next to the ones about human transmutation and allowing kids into the military.

A shiver of nervousness ran through him as Ed stared desolately out the window. No, they were on their way; he couldn't stop anything now. But the trees outside—stripped of leaves—did raise a question.

Ed coughed quietly to clear his throat. "Um, Colonel?"

"'Roy,'" the man responded. "You have to call me by my name…Edward. We can't have them knowing who we are, which means you can't refer to me by rank, and I can't refer to you by title."

"Then you'd better call me 'Ed.' No one who's casual with me actually calls me by my full name unless they're pissed." An afterthought came to him. "And won't these people recognize us anyway?"

Before he'd finished, _Roy _was already shaking his head. "No; they live in isolation, distanced from the rest of the world. Hell, they don't even use technology—no phones or anything. They'd recognize the Fuhrer, but not someone like me or you."

Edward nodded, though the technology comment brought him back around to his original question. He tried to speak normally, but his voice rebelled, and the words came out in a whisper of sorts. "Speaking of technology—it's October, and it's already cold outside. If they don't use phones, they won't have heating, right? And what about when we have to be outdoors? I'm _literally_ going to freeze my ass off."

The man looked uncomfortable. "Fires, I suppose. I imagine there are fireplaces everywhere for when the temperatures drop. As for when we're outside…well, I suppose they just get used to it. I'm sure you can handle it too."

Whether it was intended or not, Ed sensed a subtle challenge to his ability to cope. Rankled, he crossed his arms, turning his gaze away from Mustang and back to the bleak landscape outside. Already, the number of buildings was dwindling, farmland taking over.

His reprieve from speech was short lived. "I suppose I should tell you," Roy murmured. "This group is religious. Their society is built on the idea that a god created them naturally, and they should stay that way—hence the lack of technology, and clothing."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Ed blurted, eyes widening for a moment before his eyebrows drew together in irritation. "As if it's not enough to ask me to walk around naked, I have to be around a bunch of religious whack jobs too!?"

"Again, it's not like I'm happy about the situation, Ed," the man reminded him, voice frosty. "I'm just as much an atheist as you. But we absolutely _cannot_ let that show. We have to blend in, which means we have to pretend we believe it as well."

Groaning, Edward tipped his head back, running fingers through his hair…automail fingers. "I have automail," he muttered, pulling off his glove—what did _that_ matter now, if he was about to get nude?—to examine metal fingers. "How are they going to feel about that? Considering they approve of nature and all?"

A quick glance to his left revealed that Roy was gazing at his hand, seeming lost. "You didn't even think of that, did you?"

The man coughed, adjusted his cuffs. "No. But it's something we'll just have to deal with. If they cause a fuss over it, you can pretend that it was forced on you and that's what made you decide to come and join them; you wanted to be natural, but the outside world wouldn't let you." A grin spread across Mustang's face, just briefly. "Actually, that's pretty good. You should go with that."

Ed rolled his eyes, not wanting to admit that it _was_ a decent cover story—he could almost believe it himself. "I bet there's something else you didn't think of."

"Oh?" Any trace of amusement was gone from the man's voice.

"Yeah—at some point, we're going to need to use our alchemy. I can use mine whenever, no problem, but you…you need your gloves."

"Really? You think I'm so stupid I'd forget that?" Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter. He rotated it slowly, the light filtering through the windows glinting off a small design. "They'll let me keep a lighter, and that will work just as well as my gloves."

Edward hated to admit it, but he was impressed. "Okay, okay, I get it. You're on top of this."

With a certain air of superiority, Mustang put the lighter back in his pocket. "Of course, I don't need to remind you that we should hide our alchemy unless absolutely necessary. Blending in is the key."

"You're right—you don't need to tell me."

Beside him, the man sighed. "Look, Ed, I know this isn't fun—believe me, I can think of a million things I'd rather do than this. But the quicker we complete the mission, the quicker everything can go back to normal. So—just for now, let's try to get along."

Turning away from the window once more, Edward saw that Roy had extended a hand, silently asking him to shake it. "Fine," he agreed, grasping the offered hand.

"Good."

A silence fell over the car. Edward couldn't bring himself to say anything—he didn't have any more questions, he knew what he was doing. And the thought of small talk in this situation was laughable, especially considering who he was with. If it were Al, maybe things would have been different, but Mustang…he wasn't someone Ed just went around socializing with, and this mission wasn't going to be an opportunity to grow a friendship.

Edward snorted, ignoring the responding stare he felt. Was _any_ time a good time to get all buddy-buddy with Roy?

The car slowed, and Ed's stomach gave a nasty jolt. The front he'd put on seemed to melt away as they stopped, and got out; he could no longer hide his nerves, his dread of the situation. Edward shuddered, his face unpleasantly warm.

They were in the middle of some fields, inconspicuous enough. But this was as far as the car could take them; from here, the duo would have to take the path—unmarked, Ed noted—up to the colony.

He did not want this.

Nope.

"Let's go," Mustang muttered, taking the first step onto the trail. Edward followed like a beaten puppy, not fighting, just hesitantly obedient.

It wasn't a long walk, but by the time they crested the last hill, the road they had arrived on was out of sight. Ed looked back, found nothing, and looked forward and down—redness rose up in his cheeks. Even from this distance, he could see the colony in all its…glory.

Seeming to sense his trepidation—or perhaps just noticing the absence of Edward's mismatched footsteps—Mustang turned back to look at him. Ed noted with some satisfaction that the man's cheeks weren't flush-free either.

"It's going to be alright, Ed."

Edward rolled his eyes, starting down the hill. "Whatever you say, Roy."


	3. Chapter 3

The nudity was shocking.

Okay, yes, Edward was expecting it—obviously—but it was one thing to imagine having to live in a nudist colony, and something completely different to walk into one and be exposed to all those…dangly bits.

The compound wasn't large, with a central area flanked by two rectangles of what Ed assumed were houses. In the center was what appeared to be a communal building, probably used for community meetings, and a small set of craftsmen's workplaces, including a blacksmith's forge.

Edward took all of this in out of the corners of his eyes. Mostly, he tried to avoid looking around too much, instead focusing on Roy's back in front of him. It was safer…

Until the man came to a stop and Edward almost collided with him.

Despite the slight chill in the air, Ed found himself uncomfortably warm as he walked a few paces and came to stand next to Mustang. Everything in him was screaming to get out, run away, this was going to be awful and _why_ couldn't they have sent anyone else—but he ignored this voice. He was a State Alchemist, which meant he was also, technically, a soldier. And a soldier couldn't back down when he was told what to do.

He'd just suck it up.

Edward became aware of Roy speaking—a quick peak revealed the man was, with some noticeable hesitancy, speaking to a hefty woman who had come up to greet them. Ed quickly looked away, cheeks flaring, and tried to pay attention. "—can we talk to whoever is in charge here? We want to see about joining the community."

"He lives in there—" Edward had to glance back to the woman in order to understand, his gaze following her pointed finger to the central building of the compound. "You can just go on up and knock. Welcome home!"

Repressing a shudder at her words, Ed nodded his silent thanks and headed towards the indicated building, Mustang at his side. They climbed the steps and stopped in front of the door. Edward raised a hand, hesitated—

"Ed, maybe I can make an exception, do this myself; you go back—"

More than all of Roy's reassurances, _this_—this challenge, this doubt in his abilities—was what made Edward more confident.

"No," he hissed. "I can do this." And with that, he raised his hand and knocked.

"Come in," came the immediate reply. The voice was deep, but light, not as intimidating as Ed would have expected. He pushed in the door.

The inside of the building was dark, dimly lit by a fire in a massive hearth at the far end. A man sat in a spindly chair in front of it, (thankfully) nothing more than a silhouette.

Roy was the one to break the silence. "Hello, Mr.…?"

"Mark," the figure responded. "We call each other by first names here."

"Mark, then. My name's Roy Mustang, and this is Edward Elric." Ed cringed as the man said their names—even though he'd _said_ no one would know them, how could Mustang be sure? Of course, getting kicked out before they even stripped down wouldn't be that bad…but Mark said nothing. "We're interested in joining the community here."

"Why?"

The question was simple, but evidently Roy had no response. Cursing inwardly, Ed picked up the slack. "It was my idea. I was in an…an accident. I lost an arm and a leg, and was more than happy to just use a wheelchair…but I was living with an automail mechanic, and she forced me to get some of her prosthetics." He paused, swallowed for effect. "I'm _still_ devastated. I didn't want something so—_unnatural_ on my body. I can't help it now, but that kind of made me realize popular society wasn't for me. When I told Roy about it, he agreed with me. We thought this place might be a better fit for our views."

A faint nudge on his shoulder told Ed Msutang was impressed by his speech. Well, _someone_ had to convince Mark to let them in—it wasn't anything special.

The man in front of the fire made a small sound of musing. "I'm sorry to hear about your automail—that _is_ most unfortunate. But you're right, our community is based largely on maintaining the natural state that God put us in." Finally, the man rose, turning and approaching them. Now that Edward could make out the details of his face—and, undeniably, his body—he was surprised. Mark was young, certainly not older than Roy, with straw colored hair and an almost skeletal build.

Ed was careful to keep his eyes above waist level—and Mark noticed.

"You're uncomfortable with nudity," the man murmured. "Most newcomers are, don't worry. But if you two really want to join us, you will have to remove your clothes."

Mouth suddenly dry, Edward found himself reeling. No relief came when Mark turned to Mustang.

"You, Roy. You go first. Strip. Edward, watch." He waited, staring at their gaping mouths. Edward glanced over at Roy, both of their cheeks flaming. Mark tutted. "This will be good practice for you—a test, if you will. If you join us, you will have to be around nudity all day, so you must be able to handle this."

Mustang gave a tense nod, and Ed, more nervous than ever, turned to watch as the man began to strip.

Roy started with his boots, pulling them—and his socks—off slowly, placing them gently on the floor. Then he moved to his coat, dragging his arms out of the sleeves and letting it drop to the ground. Edward found himself unable to blink as Mustang brought fingers—trembling just slightly—to his shirt, popping the buttons open. Skin—more and more until the shirt joined the jacket on the floor. Ed's skin was heating up—he couldn't help it. Roy's hands were working with his belt. Edward swallowed, closed his eyes instinctively.

"Open your eyes, Edward," Mark instructed softly. Against his better judgment, Ed did so, catching an embarrassed, apologetic glance from Roy.

The pants came down. Mustang now stood, clad only in boxer shorts, goose bumps covering his skin. Edward faced a complicated battle—on the one hand, he was fighting hard to not stare, not analyze, not take in Roy's appearance. On the other hand, he had too—and he _wanted_ to. Something in him was perversely curious, and try as Ed might to beat it down, that little wondering voice wouldn't go away.

The man was muscular, obviously, but the certain, distinct way his muscles were defined was intriguing. Maybe it was the fact that Ed could _see_ the movements in Roy's shoulders, his arms as he tugged on the band of his boxers.

The soft sound of cloth hitting the floor.

If Edward was any redder, his head would have exploded. He could feel Mark watching him, and ran his eyes up and down Roy's lower body as quickly as possible. Abs, dick—he paused there unintentionally, like a scratched record—legs and back up. Nice.

What?

Ed had to resist the urge to smack himself upside the head. Briefly, he wondered if there was something special in the fire that was making him crazy.

"Very good, very good—both of you made it through part one," Mark congratulated. Edward was ninety nine percent sure the man was getting a kick out of this. "Now, part two. Edward, it's your turn. Roy, be sure to pay attention."

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><p>Roy fought against the urge to cover himself, shivering slightly. It wasn't even that cold, especially with the fire going; but the sudden lack of clothes made the air sharper, somehow.<p>

Oddly enough, his number one emotion at the moment was pity. For Edward. Yeah, the boy was tough, but this was asking too much of him—Roy knew that. But what were his options?

Contrary to Ed's belief, Roy was not actually a complete and utter jackass. He didn't hate the blonde, didn't have it out for him. If he could have, he would have shut his eyes as Edward began undressing.

First came the gloves, revealing the first glint of automail. Roy glanced at Mark—who was staring at him, rather than Ed. He looked back to the boy, who had shrugged off his coat and was busy yanking his boots free from his feet. He was going at it much more quickly than Roy had; perhaps Edward was simply eager to get the ordeal over with.

Next came the shirt, tossed over the blonde's head easily. Only when he got to his pants did Ed pause, fingering his waistband. The boy gave a tiny sigh, and pulled them down, pushing forcefully on the tight leather.

More than anything, Roy paid attention to the automail. Obviously he knew Edward had it, but it was such a rare thing to see, especially his leg. It was almost elegant, gleaming as more and more of the limb was revealed. Interesting.

The second thing Roy noticed was that Ed was lacking boxers, briefs, or any other manner of underwear. It wasn't surprising, exactly—those pants were awfully tight—but the sight of Edward's junk brought Roy up short. A flush rose up in him, mirrored by the boy.

Red from head to toe, the both of them.

"Very good," Mark murmured, clapping his hands together, just once, as Ed finished. "Nervous, the both of you, but you've done well. With a little adjusting, you'll fit in just fine with the rest of us—and, if you don't mind me saying, those muscles of yours will be quite handy around here, considering the amount of labor we have to put in." The man smiled, but something in it wasn't right—perhaps the fact that, due to the dimness of the room, he couldn't see Mark's eyes. "Now then, we have plenty of open houses at the moment, so I'll have someone show you around and then get you settled, alright?"

Not waiting for an answer, Mark brushed past them and opened the door to the building, calling out for someone. Roy glanced at Edward, worked hard to not look away; he was going to have to get used to this.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"Shut up," was the muted response.

Fair enough.

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><p><strong>This is where it begins to get serious...could you tell? XD Last chance to turn back.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

A hulking shadow appeared in the open doorway. Mark turned back to them, smiling. "This is Paul; he'll give you the tour."

Edward nodded, while Roy murmured a quick, "Thank you." They padded across the floor—his automail foot causing awkward echoes on the wood—and outside.

"Fuck," Ed hissed, clutching his arms around himself. It was the strangest sensation—on the one hand, he was now completely exposed, which made his body light up with an all over flush. On the other hand, he was now completely exposed, and what had been a cool breeze was suddenly ice on his automail ports.

Mustang didn't say anything. Edward turned to look at him—the man _couldn't_ be fine with the temperature—and saw a look of absolute shock. Ed followed his gaze, and…"Oh."

Paul stood before them, naked as anyone else—but also _very_ different. He was built similarly to Roy, though he was a great deal taller…only his muscles were noticeably different, looking more like plastic than flesh. They were _too_ perfect, too exact to be real.

"Hello and welcome home!" Paul greeted them, waving shortly. The slightly higher pitch of his voice, and the friendly tone, were rather at odds with his appearance. "What would you like to see first?"

Edward's eyes zeroed in on the man's elbow—they were just barely visible, a neat job, but there they were, on the joint, the telltale marks of transmutation. He lowered his gaze carefully, skipping neatly over Paul's danger zone, and inspected his knees; same thing.

A sharp inhale from Mustang told Ed he was seeing the same thing: Paul was one of the people who had been alchemically enhanced. The man quickly recovered from whatever surprise he had. "Whatever you want, Paul," he answered, putting on a friendly smile that almost had Edward snickering—the expression was totally unnatural on Roy's usually cocky face. "We really don't know anything about what's here, or what's important, so…"

"Well," Paul began, gesturing behind them. "That's Mark's house—we also meet there every Wednesday and Saturday to hear him speak, or when there's a special announcement that needs to be made. He alerts us by pulling that bell over there—"

Ed felt Roy turn around beside him, and followed the man's lead, his skin crawling. Normally, it would have been no big deal, but presenting his naked ass to Paul felt just plain wrong. He couldn't help but tense up, half expecting to be groped.

"He'll probably just introduce you two at dinner though," Paul continued. "The dining hall is actually just behind his house, if you want to follow me…"

The man set off down the stairs and on a small path that led them through the grass to the rear side of Mark's house. Paved by large stones, the path was amazingly cool—and unlike with the air, Edward actually liked it. He never really walked anywhere barefoot; to be outside, have his feet touch the ground, to really feel—at least with his flesh foot—his movement…this was the first thing about the community he didn't hate.

Of course, he was also following Paul's rear end, so that kind of dampened the mood a bit.

Ed didn't know how he was going to last—for some reason, he couldn't _not_ stare at Paul. Or Roy, who was walking beside him. It might have been the shock of seeing everyone so entirely, but Edward found his eyes consistently drifting to areas they should _not_ be looking at.

Warm again, blushing like an idiot. Ed scowled—then again, maybe this was normal. Maybe the way everyone kept warm in colder weather was by always being flushed.

Paul stepped into an open area, a pavilion of sorts full of picnic benches. "So yes, this is where we eat; we're done with the harvest, now, so breakfast is from eight to nine in the morning. When we're farming, it's from five to six."

Edward felt like he was going to faint. He was not a morning person—beside him, Roy seemed similarly disgruntled. But they would be done and gone by the time growing season started up.

"Lunch is noon, and dinner is always six," Paul finished. He waited expectantly.

Mustang spoke up. "It's very nice—but how do you know what time it is? You don't use clocks here, right?"

"No, we don't," Paul answered. "But Mark rings the bells when we need to wake up, when each meal starts, and when we should be in bed."

Already, Ed itched at this prospect. He wasn't a fan of being so controlled. "How do you tell those bells apart from the bells that are used to call a meeting?"

The man smiled at him. "He rings the bell five times for waking up and heading to bed, once for each meal, and three times for meetings. It's not too complicated."

Edward nodded, frowning as Paul's eyes wandered. A strong urge to punch him rose up, but Ed ignored it with some difficulty. This kind of thing was probably normal here, but to him it was fucking creepy as hell.

Mustang seemed to notice this. He coughed loudly, drawing the attention back to himself. "Where to next, Paul?"

"Well, you saw the blacksmith's place coming in, right? His name's Frank, he makes the traps we set out. Across from him is where a lot of the women work, making pillows and blankets and mattresses—that gets important when it's really cold. Next to _that_ is the building where we make our nets, bags, and ropes, for farming and fishing."

"Are all the fields out around the compound?" Roy asked.

"Yup, along with the lake. The only other thing is the houses, which are on either side of the main area."

"Got it," Ed said, nodding slowly. "It's a fairly simple layout, then."

"Of course," Paul responded, laughing lightly. "Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? So, that's really all you need to know…we start work right after breakfast, but it's almost dinner now, so you can start learning how to do all that tomorrow, alright? How about I show you to your house?"

"Sounds good," Roy replied, gesturing for the man to lead the way.

"We'll have to stop and get some blankets on the way," Paul called over his shoulder. "There are already a couple mattresses in the house."

Ed shivered slightly; the mention of blankets made him realize how chilly it was getting. He almost groaned aloud at a realization—he could hardly feel his balls. But he couldn't warm them up without causing himself a problem…

Paul ducked into the blanket building, and Edward heard women's voices within. The thought of facing any female at the moment terrified him.

Luckily, the man reemerged, arms full of pillows and shit. He doled them out—Ed took more than was probably wise, but it felt _so good_ to be able to cover himself, at least a little. Sure, he had to crane his neck to see over his pile, but that was fine.

"Your house is going to be the far right corner on the western half," Paul declared, heading off in that direction. "Sorry, but that's the closest one we have open at the moment."

"It's fine," Mustang answered. Edward didn't really care, so long as he got to curl up in bed for a little bit. Coverage was calling him.

It didn't take long to reach their new house. Paul stopped at the door and allowed Roy and Ed to go in first. There were four mattresses—Edward's head whirled. Would they have to share the house with anyone else? That wouldn't be very conductive to the mission, it he and Mustang didn't have anywhere at all to speak privately…

Evidently, Roy was thinking along the same lines. "Is anyone else living here?

"No," Paul sighed heavily. "There used to be Gina, but she ran off with some city boy. It's a shame, I liked her…" he trailed off, leaving an awkward silence behind. "Well," he said finally, clapping his hands together. "I'll leave you two to set up how you like—dinner should be soon, so just come around when the bell rings, alright? See you later!"

Edward counted to ten after Paul left, and then let out a sound somewhere between a gasp of relief and a wail. Surprised himself, he covered his mouth with his hands and took a deep breath. "Fuck everything," he finally muttered. "Which bed do you want?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Roy responded, sounding deflated.

Ed huffed, then tossed a couple pillows on the bed in the left corner, far from the door. He grabbed a stack of blankets as well, relieved to see how big they were. He wrapped the first one around himself like a cocoon, throwing the others onto his bed before plopping down and curling into himself.

"Much better," Edward sighed.

"Cold?" Roy asked, making his bed—directly across from Ed—with a tad bit more dignity.

"Exposed," Edward corrected, unable to keep from noticing that Mustang was choosing to settle in without covering himself first. "Does it not bother you or something?" he asked.

"Being naked?"

"Yeah. You're standing there, hanging everywhere. Paul's gone, it's just me—you can cover yourself up if you want."

Roy nodded. "I could. But I might as well get used to it. Besides, it's not so much the fact that _I'm_ naked that bothers me." Edward didn't respond, waiting for an explanation. "I shouldn't have brought you here," Roy clarified, guilt coloring his voice.

"Look, it sucks, but I'm not a kid," Ed growled. "I don't need you to shelter me."

Mustang looked up from his work, meeting Edward's eyes. "I never said you were. And I'm glad, in a way, that you're here—you'll be more help than anyone else in figuring out what's going on. But the way Paul just took you in…that's wrong, Ed. You're only sixteen."

Heat flared in Edward's cheeks. "So? I'm plenty old."

"Not old enough to be stared at like a piece of meat. I don't know how they handle sex here, Ed. And as much as I like to irritate you, I don't want you being used, not on my watch."

"Piss off, Roy. I can take care of myself."

"Says the boy huddled up in his blankets, hiding his junk from the world."

Ed's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I swear I will smack the shit out of you. Don't you think it's pretty normal to _not_ want to have my dick all in your face?"

Roy sighed irritably. "I'm not trying to insult you, damn it! Just—let me do my job and worry about my officers, okay? I'm not saying you can't handle yourself, but I'd like for you to not have to, alright?"

Shaking his head to clear it, Edward took a deep breath. "Okay. Fine. I'm sorry. I just—this is fucked up. It's messing with my brain a little."

"I feel that," Mustang muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," the man responded. "You just enjoy your blankets while you can—it'll be dinner soon, and if Paul's right, we're going to be introduced to everyone."

Ed groaned, face reddening at the thought of all those people staring at him. Nude.

Honestly, could it get any worse?


	5. Chapter 5

Edward jumped when the bells started ringing, almost falling off his bed, tangled up in blankets as he was. "No," he moaned. "That means dinner, doesn't it?"

Roy opened his mouth to respond, but didn't get a chance to, interrupted by a knock on the door. Ed did fall off the bed this time, as he struggled to get out of the blankets before the door opened.

"Dinner's ready, guys—Mark wants to introduce you before we start eating though," Paul announced, standing expectantly in the now-open door. Edward stood shakily; no clothes, and evidently no privacy either.

"Alright," Roy answered, pulling himself off his bed as well. The man reached out a hand as if to steady Edward, but Ed stepped away—he was fine. The last thing he wanted was Mustang touching him while they were both naked. It was just too weird.

Shivering in the open, Edward followed Paul and Roy down the path and back behind Mark's house. He _knew_ it was time for dinner—but he wasn't prepared for the number of people there. A quick headcount brought the total to somewhere around forty people, not a ton, but still—when everyone was nude, it was a lot to handle. Everywhere Ed looked, boobs bounced as the women sat down, and men adjusted themselves so as to not sit on their junk. Heat rose in his face, and Edward suddenly found his throat rather dry.

On the bright side, there was a roaring fire in a pit at the back of the pavilion, surrounded by food. Just looking at it made Ed a little warmer, but they couldn't sit down just yet—Paul was ushering them to the front of the crowd, where Mark was waiting.

"Hello, Edward, Roy. How was the tour?"

"Very nice, thanks," Mustang responded, his light tone _almost_ convincing enough to hide the tension underneath.

Mark gave a low laugh, not fooled. This guy was sharp. "You're still nervous. I understand. But it's important for you to meet everyone." Suddenly he raised his voice, addressing the assembled. "Greetings, everyone! I know you're all hungry, but I have an important announcement. Today we are joined by two new members of the community!" Edward felt a hand on his shoulder—he shuddered, trying to buck it off without being too obvious—and was turned to face the excited crowd. Try as he might, he couldn't_ not_ notice the stares he was getting, eyes running blatantly up and down his body, making his skin crawl. Ed had the sudden, absurd desire to hide behind Roy, or Mark—anyone would do.

"Their names are Edward, and Roy," Mark continued, gesturing at each of them in turn. "Be gentle—they aren't used to this way of life quite yet." A collective laugh. "And now, eat!"

Eager to be out of the limelight, Ed slunk away to the edges of the pavilion with Mustang right behind him, trying hard to both go unnoticed and still manage to get some food. Unfortunately, the first bit didn't seem to be possible. Everywhere he walked, the crowd parted, trying to get a look at him. Eventually Ed gave up and hurried over to the food and the fire, sighing in relief at the warmth—it was getting quite a bit colder as the sun started to go down. He gathered up some corn and mystery meat, and headed off to an empty bench.

This, at least, provided some measure of comfort, considering Edward's lower bits were hidden away under the table. He relaxed a minute agree, but tensed up once more as Roy sat next to him—too close.

"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed.

"Trying to block you from view a little bit, if that's alright. Fuck, you're cold." Ed glanced down—ah. That was the problem; Roy had sat down on his right side, the man's arm brushing against his automail.

"Sorry," Edward muttered.

"I'll get over it," Mustang whispered back, just as Paul sat down across from them.

"Well go on, try the food, it's great," the man said, beaming. Ed looked at his plate and scooped up some of the corn with the side of his fork.

His eyes widened as he chewed, and Paul laughed. "Told you."

Edward ignored him, grabbing another bite. Okay, one point for the nudist colony, their food was amazing.

"What kind of meat is this?" Roy asked through a mouthful.

"Rabbit," a pale woman answered, sliding into place next to Paul. "I'm Rebecca. Isn't it good?"

That wasn't the most promising answer. Ed looked to Roy, who merely shrugged and ate another bite. Wasn't that weird though? When Edward thought of rabbits, he thought of the cute fuzzy things Alphonse would probably beg him to keep, not food…still, he had to blend in. Ed stabbed a piece with his fork, chewing hesitantly.

Well, for all his misgivings, it wasn't bad.

Rebecca was talking again. "So where are you from? What made you come here?"

Ed so wasn't into this—he was eating, and it was delicious, and he was warm with the combination of fire and—he hated to admit it—Roy next to him, and he was as covered as possible here. No, he was not talking to anyone right now.

Luckily, Mustang picked up the slack. "We're from Central. Ed had an accident and was forced to get automail, which kind of opened both of our eyes to what was wrong with that society, so we came here."

Glancing up, Edward spotted Rebecca nodding. "I was going to ask about the arm and leg. So that's what automail looks like—I've never seen it before, myself. Does it hurt?"

Ugh. Conversation. "It hurts to get, if that's what you mean. But it doesn't hurt to have after that, no." Ed pondered for a second, figured he might as well complete the thought since he was already talking. "Unless it's cold like this, cause then the metal gets freezing too, and that sucks…"

"Ouch," Rebecca winced.

"So what are you going to do when it's really winter?" Paul asked, tilting his head curiously.

Ed opened his mouth, but didn't say anything for a moment. See, this was why he shouldn't talk—he couldn't very well tell them that he planned to leave by winter. "I'm sure the blankets will be enough, they're really warm," he finally murmured, averting his eyes and looking back down at his plate.

It was a good enough response. Though he wasn't watching her, Edward could hear the satisfaction in Rebecca's voice. "Thanks! I mean, I don't know if it was me who actually made your blankets, but we ladies work really hard, so I'm glad it will help you."

Nodding and smiling, Ed went back to his meal in silence.

"So what are we supposed to do after dinner?" Roy inquired. "I know the bells ring when it's lights out, so to speak, but there's some time in between, right?"

"Yeah," Paul answered. "That time is for socializing, or just extra sleep if you're tired, unless Mark calls a meeting."

As Roy nodded, Edward stood up halfway, trying to keep himself hidden behind the table for as long as possible. "Well in that case, I'm going to get some shut eye, I'm exhausted." He waved, catching Mustang's eye, and turned away.

* * *

><p>Roy frowned at Ed's retreating back. On the one hand, he'd much rather they stay together at all times, but on the other hand…well, the boy probably needed some space.<p>

He finished his meal at as close to a normal pace as he could manage, and then said his goodbyes—Rebecca was nice, but after Edward had left, she got a little too forward. Normally, Roy wasn't put off by such advances—rather the opposite, actually—but in this case, it just felt wrong. He was on a mission; his priority was to complete it.

That, and keep Ed as safe as possible.

On his way out of the pavilion, however, Roy was stopped by Mark. "So? How's the first day been?"

Dreadful. "Pretty good, actually."

"Good, good. Any questions, concerns?"

Perhaps the strangest thing about talking to Mark was that the man actually seemed kind—at least within the parameters of his ideals. Roy had to remind himself that Mark was the one transforming people like Paul. "Actually, yes, one question. This is kind of awkward, but...how is sex handled here? I've noticed some people seeming interested…"

To his surprise, Mark laughed. "I think the best way to describe it is, everyone is welcome to everyone else. Of course, we don't condone rape or anything like that, but we find the idea of monogamy to actually be against nature. If we didn't have typical social norms, we would sleep around with many individuals, and so that is what we practice."

Roy found himself having difficulty swallowing. "And what about homosexuality?" A flash in his head, picturing the way Paul had looked at Edward. "Not all the stares have been from woman."

"Oh, you're a sharp one!" Mark seemed delighted. Well, at least Roy was integrating well. "While you might think we'd be against it—considering people can't reproduce like that—my opinion is that homosexuality is natural. I haven't observed people choosing it; it just so happens they are attracted to members of the same sex."

Nodding, Roy made his escape. "Makes sense, thank you. Goodnight…"

Trying to keep his posture normal as he left (for fear of Mark watching him), Roy let out a quiet sigh. While it was good to have his questions answered, he hadn't gotten the answers he wanted, not by a long shot. The longer Roy stayed here, the more he regretted bringing the blonde along.

Another sigh. Protecting Edward, especially when the boy didn't want his help, was almost going to be more of a challenge than finding out about the Philosopher's Stone.

Almost.


	6. Chapter 6

Roy was torn between sympathy and wanting to kill the stuck up little prick.

Edward was freezing. Obviously. The boy had wrapped up his arm and leg in separate blankets, and then cocooned the rest of himself up to the point where he was nothing but a big mound of blankets on a bed. But it wasn't enough—Roy had been listening to the blonde's audible shivers for the last hour, and he was fucking sick of it. Of course, he'd offered up one of his own blankets to help—since he didn't have automail, Roy was having a much better time of it. But again and again Ed refused, grumbling.

Well, Roy had had it.

He got up, dragging one of his blankets behind him, gritting his teeth slightly against the automatic chill. With a flourish, Roy tossed it up and let it fall over Edward.

"I told you I don't want your blankets," the boy muttered, his head turning so that barely visible eyes could glare at Roy. "I'm fine."

"I don't need you to turn into an icicle. Just get over yourself."

"You're not my mother, Mustang." Roy sighed. 'Mustang.' Ed really was pissed. Well then, the boy _reall_ywasn't going to like this next bit.

Roy walked the few paces back to his own bed, gathering up the rest of his blankets before shuffling back over to Edward.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Body heat," he answered simply.

"Oh _hell no_!" The blonde threw off his covers, trying to get up and away from Roy—which, ironically, gave him just the in he needed. Pulling his blankets around himself, Roy ducked under Ed's as well. "Get the fuck away from me! Stupid bastard!"

"I'm trying to keep you warm, Ed!"

"For the last time," the boy hissed. "I do _not_ need your help!"

Roy snapped, slapping Edward across the face. The echo of the sound rang out in the empty room; the blonde was frozen, staring widely in indignant shock.

"Would you _please_ just stop?" Roy asked, exasperated. "It's not going to kill you to let someone do you a favor—"

"I don't need your favors!" Ed hissed. "I'm not a weakling!"

"Do you really think I don't know that? Why do you think I brought you along? Because I knew you could help, Ed. Because I know you're good at what you do."

The boy shifted uncomfortably, taking his eyes off Roy to glare at the sheets. "So why do you keep treating me like I can't handle myself?"

"I'm not!" Roy rolled his eyes. "You really think that? Look, I get it, okay? You're a tough guy, and you've had to prove that since your mom died." Edward's eyes grew just a little harder at the reminder. "But take a look in the mirror—you're only sixteen. It's okay for people, for _me_ to help you. I'm not doing it because I think you can't deal with life on your own—you've proven over and over that you can. I just want to make it a little easier on you."

* * *

><p>Ed glanced up at the man, unsure how he felt about that. "Why bother, then? If you know I can take it, why try to make it easier? I've got this."<p>

Roy sighed. "Because believe it or not, I care. " Edward snorted—that had to be bullshit—and the man frowned. "I mean it. When I brought you into the military, yes, I was impressed by your talent—but I also thought it would help. I know better than anyone that being a State Alchemist isn't the best job in the world, but I thought it would be good you to have something to do, some way to try to make everything better. And it did—you're _nothing _like that empty kid I first met, not now. The point is, when you have a problem, if I can do something to fix it, I want to."

Deflating at the words, Edward shivered, the rush of anger that had warmed him leaving all at once. "You're such an asshole."

"Because I _care_?" Roy asked incredulously.

"Yeah. It's so much easier to stay pissed at you when you're underestimating me," Ed muttered, grabbing a blanket and pulling it up around his shoulders. He really did hate to give in, to let Roy be so damn _nice_—why couldn't he just keep being a hard ass? Edward was used to being independent, not letting people do shit for him.

The man laughed, handing him another blanket now that he realized Edward had calmed down. "Your life is just _so_ tough."

"Thanks for the encouragement."

"So you're going to stop fighting me on this?"

Edward frowned. "Just so long as you remember that I can kick your ass." He yelped as Roy, after placing another blanket on him, laid down. "What are you _doing_?"

"I thought you were going to let me help," the man answered innocently.

"Yeah," Ed spluttered. "So I'll take your blankets, if you're that intent on it. You can't sleep in my _bed_!"

Roy sighed. "It's not going to kill you."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but we're _fucking naked_!" Edward managed. "That's—that's—" He couldn't finish his sentence, merely scooting closer to the edge of the bed and away from Roy.

"Here," the man said, sitting up again. He grabbed a blanket, tugging it out of the tangled bunch, and (with no little effort) wrapped it securely around his lower half, almost like a towel. "There, see? Danger zone all taken care of. Don't be so touchy."

Flushed and flustered, Ed attempted to cover himself as well, with much less success. Huffing, he stood and wrapped a blanket around himself, quickly slinking back under the covers when he was done.

"Well, c'mere," Roy insisted, raising an arm up to give him some space. "Body heat doesn't work if you're so far away, Ed."

Edward swallowed hard. "You're fucking nuts," he whispered. "We've only been here one day and you're already going crazy."

"Why are you being so difficult about this?"

"It's too close!" Ed responded hotly. He was already stuck being around naked people all day long, and that was already daunting and embarrassing—how was he supposed to handle sleeping with Roy, with nothing but a few blankets between them? It was too—he shuddered to think the word—_intimate._ But before he could say any of that out loud, Roy lifted his arm, reaching up to pull him down.

And suddenly Edward _was_ too close, pressed right up against the man—but it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Ed let out an involuntary gasp, scooting closer without thinking about it. "Holy shit, you're so _warm_," he breathed.

Roy, on the other hand, was gritting his teeth. "You're automail is fucking _freezing_—why didn't you tell me?"

"Shut up, you're not the boss of me."

"Reality check, Ed." Roy chuckled, wrapped an arm around Edward, causing him to blush like mad. "Still, for someone who didn't want to be this close, I'm glad to see you're so into the cuddling."

"We are _not_ cuddling!" Ed punched the man in the arm, just hard enough to let him know to watch it—but not hard enough to make him leave.

Another laugh—how come Roy wasn't bothered by this? Did he seriously not give a shit, or was he just really good at hiding his discomfort? "Just go to sleep, Ed. We're going to be busy tomorrow."

Edward sighed at the reminder—work started up for them tomorrow. Fine. He'd go to sleep. Really, this wasn't so bad—and considering he'd been able to get rid of his pride long enough to strip around strangers…he could probably handle bunking with Roy.


	7. Chapter 7

Having undergone training to enter the military, and then having to make it through the war with Ishbal…Roy had become a rather light sleeper. So when the bells rang to tell everyone at the colony to get up, Roy jerked awake right away.

His senses (and memory) were a little slow to catch up with his body, as always. In all actuality, it took Roy registering the weight on his chest—and what, or rather _who_, that weight was—to get him to remember he was currently in a nudist community.

That being said, for such a rude awakening (after all, it is bad enough to wake up and realize you're not in your own bed in the best of circumstances), Roy found himself quite comfortable. He had to work to hold back laughter as he looked down at the blonde head resting on his chest. Considering the fuss Edward had put up over them sharing a bed, it _was_ pretty hysterical that the boy was now halfway on top of him and still, despite the bells, sound asleep.

Roy wondered how long he could possibly put off waking Ed up. The blonde looked so peaceful, and he himself wasn't exactly upset by the situation. Having slept the night through under a pile of blankets—and of course, next to Roy—the boy on top of him was quite warm. Shifting infinitesimally, Roy smiled as Edward sighed, his face scrunching up slightly

In the back of his mind, Roy wondered if he might be enjoying this _too_ much. Having his underage subordinate fast asleep, laid out across him…but Roy shut the voice of reason out. For once, Ed wasn't shouting, wasn't fighting, was just…peaceful.

And that wasn't something Roy was going to miss out on seeing.

* * *

><p>Edward frowned, feeling himself moved—not much, but just enough. He could have groaned—Al probably needed something, to tell him they had to get to the office, maybe. But Ed didn't want to get up. He was so damn <em>comfortable<em>, so warm…

Blinking open his eyes, Edward got the shock of his life. Everything came rushing back—the mission, going to the nudist colony, and…falling asleep next to Roy.

But that was _next_ to Roy! How in the hell had Ed managed to end up on _top_ of the man!? He jerked upwards, trying to sit up and get away, and ended up falling backwards onto a mass of blankets.

And Roy just stared at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Sorry," Edward muttered, feeling his face go red. "I—I mean, it's not like _you _can control what you do in your sleep, either, I was probably just cold and so I—I—"

"Ed, calm down," the man interrupted, trying to hold back a smile. "Do I look upset?"

He had a point. Roy was just laying there, casual as could be, despite the fact that Edward had just used him as a pillow. That was…strange. Ed narrowed his eyes. "How long have you been awake?"

"Only about two minutes," Roy answered. "Why?"

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" Edward gaped. "I'm lying there like a fucking idiot and you just—just _watch me_?"

"You looked comfortable. Besides, I wasn't awake enough to move yet. Oh, and it was nice to see you not yelling at me for once. Why're you so bothered, anyway?"

Squeezing a blanket in his fists, Ed found his voice quavering as he responded. "It's weird." Truth be told, Edward didn't have an explanation. He was only really upset, because…well, aside from being moderately embarrassed, he _wasn't_ upset. Roy was cozy as hell, but he wasn't about to own up to that fact…especially considering if all had gone normally in his life (as if it ever did), he never would have realized Roy made such a great pillow.

The man rolled his eyes, throwing the blankets off of himself and standing up. Roy stretched, and Ed looked away. "You'll be alright. Now let's go, breakfast will be ready soon."

Edward groaned at the thought of another day here, and decided to put off any more thought on the sleeping arrangements…for now. "Ugh, fine. What's the plan?"

"Integrate."

"No shit," Ed snorted. "_How_?" Fucking hell, Roy was _still _stretching. Couldn't he stop? Then again, now that he thought about it, he should probably be getting up and getting ready to go as well. This _was_ a mission, after all.

As Edward rose—freezing without blankets, fuck waking up this early, before the sun came out—Roy thought about it. "No idea," the man finally answered. "It's not something we can plan for, really—we just need to get information, but subtly. If an opportunity comes, take it. Otherwise…just get used to being here."

"You make it sound like we're going to be here for forever. I'd rather get this over with." Ed thought about his options for a moment, stretching and then flipping into a handstand—_that_ felt weird without clothes…he righted himself quickly. "We know Paul was transmuted, right? Muscles like that aren't quite natural. I'll just talk to him—and yes, I'll be subtle about it, don't worry."

However, rather than nagging him, Roy was quiet. "What?" Ed asked.

"Just be careful around Paul, okay?"

Edward rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine."

"We don't know just how strong he is, Ed."

Brows drawing together, Edward stared at Roy. "Look, I can take it."

The man, for a moment, looked like he was about to say something…then stopped, sighing. "I know. Let's go to breakfast, okay?"

* * *

><p>After breakfast (awkward and chilly, what a surprise), they went straight to work. Ed didn't know whose stupid idea it was to have him making nets, but they seriously needed to get a clue. He had fucking <em>automail fingers<em>! Making nets (especially these, which were relatively small) was a detailed, laborious process. And sure, his automail worked fine in most situations—but asking Edward to button a shirt, or wear shoes that had to be tied...it wasn't like he couldn't do it, but that kind of thing took a certain amount of attention he usually couldn't be bothered to muster up.

Making nets was in the same boat, and it didn't help that Roy was sitting next to him, putting everything together like he was born to create fishing tools.

Consequently, when it was finally time for lunch, Edward had just about had it. Worse still was the fact that his one easy idea, talking to Paul, wasn't happening; for some reason, the man wasn't working in the building like the rest of the males in the colony.

Ed yawned as he exited, raising a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. That was something, at least; it was a lot warmer, now, than when he had woken up.

Roy groaned, bending backwards to loosen up his back. Edward's eyes went straight to the man's abs, unable to help it.

Maybe he should start walking around with a blindfold—it might be easier.

When he came back up, Roy was talking. "You realize we have another five hours or so after lunch in that place?"

Ed suddenly felt faint. "Don't tell me that. I'm not cut out for work."

"Trust me, I'm aware."

To Edward, that sounded like a goad, but he didn't have time to respond, having just spotted Paul. Without a word, he waved a quick goodbye to Roy, in too much of a hurry to actually say anything, and ran up to the man.

"Hey, Paul!"

Paul turned around, a grin breaking out across his face as Ed came up beside him. "Hi!"

Edward tried to be friendly. "I didn't see you this morning while we were working…" He trailed off, leaving the question unasked but there. When he tried, Ed found he was pretty damn good at subtle.

"Yeah, I was chopping up some wood. We don't have too many trees around here, but we always send out a crew to go get a few during the summer. We need it for the houses, you know."

Nodding, Ed prodded just a little more. "So they have you do the hard work, yeah? But of course, you can handle it, you've got the muscles."

Paul laughed. "I'm still getting used to them, to be honest."

Yes! This was exactly where Edward wanted the conversation to be going. "What do you mean?"

"They were a miracle," Paul explained. "When I came here, I was pretty portly, to be honest."

Ed widened his eyes dramatically. "No way. How'd you get these arms, then?"

"I told you, it was a miracle. Mark just came up to me one day, and asked if I'd like to be more fit. Of course I said yes, and he had me sleep in his house that night, on a little mat on the floor. When I woke up, I looked like this. It was God's work, you know."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Edward merely nodded, contemplating as Paul went on talking about all the things he could do now.

So Mark was definitely the one changing people, and he _had_ to be using a Philosopher's Stone—there was no alternative. And the people didn't even know what was happening to them, they thought it was some _god_.

It looked like everything they suspected was right; Mr. Friendly Nudist was hiding something big. But that still didn't answer the real question: what was the point, and where had Mark gotten a Philosopher's Stone?


	8. Chapter 8

Roy watched Edward from a distance, trying to catch up a little but not wanting to interfere. He didn't like that look in Paul's eyes when he saw Ed; add that to how relationships were so _open_ in the community…and Roy didn't want the blonde anywhere near Paul.

Trying still to be inconspicuous, Roy sped up, walking diagonally behind the pair. He thought he caught the word "miracle." Shortly after, Edward got a look of intense concentration on his face—that meant information, right? Regardless, Roy didn't approve of the way Paul was slowly sliding closer to the blonde.

"Hey, Ed!" At his name, Edward turned, looking irritated. Well, tough. "I need to borrow you for a moment—if you don't mind, Paul?"

"Not at all—I'll see you two at lunch anyway," the man answered, leaving Ed behind.

As soon as everyone was out of hearing range, the boy let him have it. "The fuck do you think you're doing? I was getting somewhere!"

"And not paying any attention—how did you honestly not notice how close he was getting?"

The blonde snorted angrily. "You're one to talk, climbing in my bed at night!"

"That was to _help_ you—why can't you stop being such a hard ass for once!?" Roy gritted his teeth. "Haven't you seen the looks Paul gives you? Homosexuality isn't frowned upon here, Ed, and he's after you."

Rolling his eyes, the boy started walking again. "It's not like he's going to rape me—I wouldn't let that happen! What do you think I am, stupid? Just give me some space so I can get us out of here, since _you_ don't seem to care about that anymore."

Edward sped up, walking in front of Roy for once. He bit his tongue, not wanting to say anything else, but he had to. It was only a whisper, and Ed was drawing further away, but still, Roy was sure he heard him. "The mission comes second. My first priority is to keep my officers safe."

* * *

><p>Ed was having a hell of a time getting his heartbeat to slow down. He was so torn—anger, or accepting being treated like he couldn't take care of himself? Roy was being <em>way<em> too overprotective…but at the same time, Edward was kind of glad the man had noticed the things he _hadn't_. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, knowing Paul was probably after his ass—literally—scared him. Because Roy, the fucking know-it-all, was right; they _didn't_ know how strong Paul was. So if he wanted Ed…that could turn into a dangerous situation.

But Edward knew that! Why couldn't Roy realize he wasn't a complete idiot, that he was actually looking after himself quite well?

Ed grabbed his lunch (bread and tomato sauce) quietly, trying to calm down. Paul was waving him over a few tables down—with more hesitancy than usual, Edward sat down across from him. Roy, silent, sat next to Ed, albeit a bit further away than last night, or at breakfast.

Rebecca came up, already chatting away about whatever. It didn't escape Edward's notice that she glanced at Roy in an…_interesting_ way. And the man was worried about _him_!

Well, Edward wasn't going to dwell on it—he was going to keep making progress. Surreptitiously, Ed looked around, searching through the crowd of naked bodies for someone else like Paul, someone with too many muscles…there! Three tables down from them, a shorter man who was absolutely _ripped_. "Hey, Paul," he began as soon as Rebecca stopped for breath. "Who's that guy over there?"

The man leaned back to look, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "Which one?"

"Short, muscular, a few tables down."

"Oh…that's John. Why?" And this time, Ed caught it, the slightly hungry look in Paul's eyes as he looked back at him.

Edward shrugged. He had to play this just right…not arouse Paul's suspicion, but still get information. He hated this stupid balancing act; going undercover was much less his style than just going on the attack. "I was just wondering if he also experienced a miracle—he's got muscles to rival yours."

"Yeah, just last week, actually." Ed could have cheered—this meant Mark was _still_ changing people. Maybe he'd choose another member to alter soon, and Edward would have a chance to do something about it…

"That's…amazing. How many people here have had miracles like that?"

"Only about five or six. There were two or three before us who were chosen, but they left the night it was supposed to happen…"

That sent a little shiver down Edward's spine. Roy moved closer in response, but Ed didn't complain; he was too busy thinking. What if those few people hadn't left? What if something had gone wrong with the transmutation…?

"Why are you so interested, anyway?"

Shit. True, Ed kind of expected that question, but…what was he supposed to say? He thought back to what Roy had told him earlier, about how Paul was eyeing him, and it hit Ed then, like an electric shock. It was a mark of how much Edward hated being in the colony that he even _considered_ such a stupid, obnoxious idea…

"Oh, I just _really_ love a guy who's got some muscle, you know?"

Beside him, Roy stiffened, closer to a statue than a person in that instant. Oops.

* * *

><p>Roy experienced something close to panic as the words came out of Edward's mouth. What the actual fuck was Ed playing at!? He'd <em>just<em> told the boy how dangerous Paul was—why the hell would Edward say something like that, with such a clear implication of interest? A quick glance at Paul's face revealed a pleased expression, and Roy swore he was trying to flex subtly.

Didn't Ed realize how stupid it was to lead someone on like that when you don't know what they're capable of?

But a thought brought Roy up short. What if he _wasn't_ leading Paul on? He didn't peg the blonde as the type to be that openly flirtatious, but what if that was just to piss Roy off? What if…fucking hell, what if Ed was _actually_ okay with Paul's advances? It took a certain amount of effort for Roy to remain still; as it was, his fists clenched up to the point of aching. He didn't know for sure that Edward was into girls—it was just as possible that the boy liked men. And if that was the case…what if Paul genuinely appealed to the blonde, with that physique?

A giggle from Rebecca broke through his train of thought. She was staring at Paul and Ed, who were _flirting_ back and forth.

"Well I mean, a guy's _definitely_ got to be able to pick me up—those arms aren't just for show, you know, I want someone to _use_ them."

Where the _fuck_ was that coming from? The only indication that Edward was embarrassed was the faintest tinge of pink on his cheeks. Either Ed was being sincere—Roy blanched at the idea—or he should have been an actor.

This gave Roy some comfort—with him, the blonde tended to become bright red. Sure, the circumstances were a little different—but maybe, just maybe, Edward was only faking it.

Paul's response made him nervous once more. "I could lift you, easy." Roy let out a plea in his head for Edward to stop, not get the man going, do not engage—

"You sure?" Ed teased. "This automail's pretty heavy."

"No problem. Want to try?"

Knuckles white, Roy coughed, trying to get the boy's attention, trying to make him _stop_. Edward must have gotten the message, because Roy felt a cold, metal hand rest on his knee for just a moment.

He was getting dizzy, spaced out, hoping that hand meant what he thought it did—that Ed knew what he was doing.

Roy was _actually_ happy when lunch ended; the prospect of heading back to work (without Paul!) was surprisingly comforting.


	9. Chapter 9

Roy was silent all throughout dinner, too nervous about his stupid subordinate's behavior to bother pretending to enjoy being in a fucking nudist colony. Ed wasn't being _too_ flirty with Paul—after all, he had gotten a decent amount of information from the man, so it wasn't _really_ necessary—and that was a relief, but Paul was looking at the boy with increased interest and that was just not okay. Roy didn't trust the man.

If he had believed in a god, Roy would have been down on his knees thanking the deity that Edward didn't arrange anything with Paul, and instead followed him to their house. Still, he couldn't speak, not yet. He'd blow their cover, he just knew it.

In the back of his mind, Roy knew his reaction was overly dramatic at best. He couldn't quite say why he was so bothered by the blonde's tactics; after all, if they worked, shouldn't he be happy? But Roy was too stuck on the thought of Paul going after Ed, and that was an image that not only disturbed him—it pissed him off, too.

Hurrying the last few feet, Roy opened the door and walked far enough in to allow Edward entry as well, then spun around to face the boy.

* * *

><p>Edward exhaled heavily as Roy turned around. He could tell the man was angry—not that he got why, he was <em>fine<em>—but more than that, Roy seemed _panicky_. That was enough to take the edge off his kneejerk, irritated response. "Roy, calm down. Like, seriously, you need to take a step back," Ed continued, raising his eyebrows. "You're practically on top of me."

The man noticed this and sighed, backing up a few paces. He opened his mouth, but Edward cut him off. "Stop. Give me a minute. Yeah, I know Paul's all horned up over me, okay? But that's definitely something we can use to our advantage, as long as I'm careful. And I will be."

"You do realize you're playing with fire, don't you?" Roy asked.

It took all of Ed's willpower not to laugh—his sense of humor was particularly poorly timed. "You do realize it's your _job_ to play with fire, don't you?"

It wasn't the smartest comment. Roy scowled as he answered. "Don't be such a smartass, I mean it. What we're doing is dangerous enough, but keep this in mind: all we can see of Paul is the outside effects of him having been transmuted. We don't know, not entirely, what's happened on the inside. For all you know, he could pin you down with one finger."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration, Roy." Ed took a breath. "But yeah, actually I do know. You've got to understand though—when I signed up to become a State Alchemist, I signed up to take some risks. If this is the best way to go about getting the information we need and getting out of here as soon as possible, so be it. It's not like I offered to go wandering around in the dark with Paul, I was just flirting with him a little—which, by the way, sucked, you don't have to get all worried about _that_. Besides, you were there, so if even if he snapped around all those other people, it's not like I wouldn't have had some backup."

Edward stopped talking, letting that sink he. Being logical was such a pain in the ass—it'd be so much easier to just have another argument with Roy. But considering the genuine concern the man was expressing—and the fact that Ed was actually a little worried about Paul and his affections himself—he couldn't quite bring himself to get mad.

"I don't like it," Roy finally muttered. "I get what you're saying, but…I dunno, it scares me. Hearing that kind of shit come out of your mouth…"

"Trust me, I didn't like it either," Ed interjected, grimacing as he walked over to his bed—it was getting cold again, plus he preferred to be covered when conversing with Roy. "I thought I was going to puke, but I had to come up with some explanation as to why I was looking around for jacked up guys, didn't I? And what you had said was on my mind, so I just went with it. You can't deny that it worked."

"I suppose so."

Edward yawned widely, curling into his blankets. It wasn't late, not at all, but the whole waking up early thing wasn't for him. If he wanted to have a hope of making it at eight in the morning, he was going to have to get to sleep by eight at night. Preferably earlier. "Just—it's okay. I know it's dangerous and all, but you know I'm trained for this. Breathe. I don't see why this is such a big deal to you."

Roy nodded slowly. "I know. I'm sorry. I don't know if this is just a fear, or some kind of intuition, I just think you need to be careful. Just do me a favor, and next time, give me some warning—I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Plus, if I can be close just in case something happens, I'd feel better about this."

"Yeah, okay." Edward paused, looking at Roy out of the corner of his eye. The man was standing by his bed, still looking concerned—well, okay, fine then. Ed didn't know why it mattered so much, but if Roy wanted to be worried all the time, that was his problem. The more pressing thing was that he wasn't lying down, probably waiting for permission or something, which was kind of stupid considering the man hadn't asked for any consent last night. And while it was _kind of_ nice to know Roy wasn't just going to jump into bed with him, Ed had to admit he _kind of_ missed the feeling of a warm body next to him. Ew. He turned over before speaking, not wanting to see Roy's reaction. "Come on, then, it's cold. If you're so worried about my well being, you'd better get under the covers."

Glancing up, Ed thought he saw a grin on Roy's face as he got in bed, wrapping an arm around Edward's waist—yeah, he was right, the man was smug as hell. Ed checked the arm, grabbing Roy's hand with his own for a moment…yeah, okay, he was high enough up. Being in the community must have been messing with both their minds; Roy never should have been cuddling him like this, and Ed _definitely_ shouldn't have been allowing it. But it was warm and life was stressful at the moment and he had to wake up early again the next morning…Edward wasn't going to worry about his pride or normality at the moment.

* * *

><p>Roy waited for the blonde to fall asleep, his heartbeat finally slowing down now that he was next to Ed. As soon as he was sure it was safe—that Edward wouldn't wake up and freak out—Roy leaned just a little closer, pressing his face into Ed's hair. This was fucking retarded—two days ago, everything had been normal. He'd been wearing clothes. He'd been a Colonel, not pretending to be a nudist. And he certainly hadn't been going around snuggling with his subordinates.<p>

But Roy couldn't help himself. Holding the boy like this, it made him feel safer. Like Paul _wasn't_ some sort of threat—

Grinding his teeth, Roy broke off the thought and backed away from Edward a little. That was stupid—maybe the food here was soaked through with essence of a Philosopher's Stone, or something, and it was fucking up his brain. Because looking back on it, that's exactly what he had done—reacted like Paul was competition. Well, maybe it was just because in a way that's precisely what the other man was. Not competition for Ed's _body_ or anything (though Roy had to admit, as he thought that, he became hyperaware of his hand on the blonde's abs, and the blanketed butt nudging this upper thighs), but competition for his attention. And not romantic attention, not like Paul wanted, nope, but just attention in general. Roy just wanted to keep Edward close for the sake of mission security, with a little bit of concern for the boy's personal safety thrown in.

Nothing was wrong. Everything was fine.

Time for Roy to go to bed and stop thinking.


	10. Chapter 10

Edward didn't like surprises. He didn't like not knowing what was happening, and he didn't like not knowing what to do or how to react.

And that went double for waking up with an erection. Triple when he wasn't alone.

Unable to help it, Ed yelped automatically, falling off the bed in an effort to get the hell away from Roy. The man jerked awake in response to the shout, as well as the thump, looking around and scrunching his forehead up when he saw Edward on the floor.

Honestly, could life get any more difficult?

"What. The actual. Fuck?" Ed hissed, flushing horribly and trying to will his hard on away. "What did you _do_?"

Groggily, Roy shook his head. "The hell are you talking about?"

"You, molesting me in my sleep!" Edward snapped back. Okay, so he wasn't that stupid, he knew full well this was just a freak accident type of thing, and that Roy would never have done something like that…but being angry helped distract him from some of the embarrassment.

The man raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to respond, when his gaze dropped just slightly. Too late, Ed noticed his position: sprawled out on the floor, weight on his elbows and legs spread. Sure, there was a blanket covering him—more or less—but that lovely little tent gave Edward away. He gaped wordlessly, pushing himself upward and clamping his legs together to try to hide himself.

Roy rolled his eyes. "I wasn't _molesting_ you, jeez, you're paranoid. In case you haven't noticed, I have the same problem—you probably just rubbed up against me wrong in your sleep."

Powerless to stop his eyes from glancing, Ed swallowed hard, trying not to stare at Roy's crotch…nope, he wasn't doing that. Face burning, Edward retorted, "_Me_ rubbing against _you_? I'm pretty sure it was the other way around." To be fair, Ed didn't know that, but the thought of him grinding against Roy in his sleep made him never want to shut his eyes again, not if his body was going to betray him like that.

Letting out a tiny sound of derision, the man stretched and started to get up. "Does it really matter? Just—"

"Stay _put_!" Ed interrupted.

With one leg slung over the side of the bed, Roy paused. "Why for?"

"You—you—" Edward stuttered, unable to complete his thought. "You've got a _boner_!" he finally managed. "It's bad enough having to look at naked people all day long, don't go showing that kind of thing off!"

Roy sighed heavily. "I'm not showing it off, I'm going to go fix it. Close your eyes if you're that bothered, I'll be back in a minute."

"What do you _mean_ going to fix it?" Ed huffed. The man couldn't mean what he thought he meant. Nope. Not with Edward around, no way.

A snort. "Look I _know_ you're not that innocent, so don't even try to pretend—you know full well what I'm doing." Roy held up a hand as Ed opened his mouth to object. "Before you say anything, I'll go outside, okay? Behind the house so no one walks by, and when I'm done you can go too."

Stubborn as ever, Edward shook his head. "No way am I…jerking off here. It'll go away."

"Betting it won't," Roy muttered, walking out the door before Ed could stop him.

_Now_ what the hell was he supposed to do? Edward took a deep breath. Okay. Calm down, he could do that. Maybe getting out from under the blanket would help…it was pretty cold, after all. Checking to make sure Roy hadn't walked back in, Ed stood up, letting the blanket fall to the floor. He shivered; yes, it was cold, but that wasn't actually solving anything.

A sudden groan made him jump. It took Ed a moment to realize what he had just heard, and once he understood, he gasped, eyes zeroing in on the window.

_Really_!? Roy _had_ to know he was standing right outside the window, right? The man wasn't that oblivious, what was he playing at? Also: why the hell weren't those things sound proofed? Stupid, fucking, do-it-yourself nudist colony!

Blushing harder than ever, Edward walked over to a corner, out of view from and unable to look out the window, trying to rewind the last ten minutes or so in his mind and erase them, which was quite the task…especially when Roy couldn't seem to shut up. A particularly loud moan had Ed clamping his hands over his ears.

Twenty seconds later, Roy walked back in, and Edward thought he was going to die. The man was panting and noticeably relieved. Ed could have a pretty twisted imagination sometimes, but he would have been hard pressed to come up with a more awkward situation than this; Roy coming back from jerking off and telling Ed it was his turn.

"Fixed it yet?" the man asked.

"No," Edward hissed, looking at everything and anything but Roy. "Could you have been any louder? No, scratch that, could you have picked any better place than right outside the fucking window!?"

Roy shrugged unabashedly. "One, yes, I could have." Ed shook his head at that, trying not to think about—well, anything. Especially the idea of the man moaning any louder.

This wasn't helping his problem. If anything, Edward's rampant thoughts were making the situation worse, which was an issue all on its own.

"Two," Roy continued. "I was trying to keep out of sight from anyone else. That's the back of the house, which faces out away from everything else anyway, and in case you haven't noticed, there's a very conveniently placed bush right there. I thought it would be the best place to hide."

The worst part was that Ed couldn't argue with that logic. However, he could slap Roy for what he said next. "Why were you looking, anyway?"

"It's not like that!" Edward snapped. "I heard you and I just looked around automatically, ugh, I'm not some kind of—of pervert!"

"Yeah, well, your turn; you're obviously not doing any better and I refuse to let you walk around with a hard on."

Though he was throwing an internal fit, Ed had to accept that. He wasn't about to go eat breakfast like this. "Fine. Close your eyes."

Edward waited until Roy shut his eyes tight before walking over. He waved his hand in front of the man's face experimentally.

"No, Ed, I can't see you, but I can feel the air moving."

Okay, maybe that was stupid. In a hurry now, Edward walked out the door—another reason he couldn't just stay like this, it was a little uncomfortable to try to move about normally—and around back as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, he could see what Roy meant; other than right by the window, he was a little more exposed than he might like. Steadfastly refusing to let himself look at the mess clinging to some of the branches of the bush, Ed stole a quick glance inside to see that Roy had his back turned, and got to work.

Unlike Roy, Edward was determined to be quiet about this—the last thing he wanted was for someone, even and _especially_ Roy, to hear him. So he bit his lip and toughed it out, managing to contain all but the smallest noises…until, two minutes later, when Ed couldn't help but cry out as he finished.

How embarrassing.

Still mortified but at least feeling satisfied, Edward walked back around the house and leaned in the doorway, only to be met with a cheeky grin from Roy.

Ed truly didn't want to know what that was all about. "C'mon," he muttered. "Let's go get some breakfast."


	11. Chapter 11

Ed hadn't been thrilled with the prospect of having to go and work on whatever stupid task they gave him after breakfast…but when, once everyone was done eating, the bells rung three times, Edward found himself wishing he could go make some more nets.

"This is going to be like a sermon, isn't it?" Ed whispered out of the corner of his mouth, making sure everyone but Roy was out of earshot.

"Probably," the man sighed back as they joined the crowd streaming into Mark's house. That, at least, explained why it was such a large building; for the meetings, apparently the whole colony would squeeze inside.

Edward entered. In a stark contrast with the outdoors, the air inside Mark's house was warm from all the body heat people were giving off. Mirroring everyone else, Ed found a spot on a rug and sat down, wrapping his hands around his knees as he drew them to his chest. Beside him, Roy plopped down as well, and on his other side…Paul.

No one else was speaking, so Edward at least didn't have to say anything. The more Roy warned him about Paul, the more nervous Ed was around the man—which sucked, because so far he'd been a good source of information.

After several minutes, Mark still hadn't arrived to give his little speech or whatever. Edward had examined the contents of the building as closely as possible, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Really, it was just one big room, empty save a bed, the fireplace, and the rugs scattered across the floor. His back was beginning to ache, curled up as he was. With a sigh, Edward stretched his legs out, then crossed them. He was a bit more exposed than he liked that way, but it was definitely more comfortable.

Just as Ed thought this, he felt a warmth come across his shoulders. Startled, he immediately looked to Roy—only to find the man glaring out of the corners of his eyes, jaw tightly clenched to match his fists. Dread trickled down Edward's spine as he turned his head in the other direction.

Okay…so it was _Paul's_ arm draped across his shoulders.

The feeling was similar to what Ed thought it must be like to have bugs crawling all over you. He itched with a desperation to move, but Roy was right—he'd gotten himself into this. Now, Edward was screaming internally. He could have hit himself; _why_ had he thought it was a good idea to flirt with Paul?

And Roy was correct about one other thing, too: though Paul was merely resting his arm on Ed's shoulders, he could _feel_ the strength, something beyond normal. Edward thought he might be shivering, but a quick glance at his flesh hand told him he was only trembling on the inside.

Luckily, Edward was given his chance to escape just then, as Mark walked in and everyone assembled stood up out of respect. Well, he sure as hell didn't respect Mark, but this was an opportunity he couldn't miss. Ed jumped up and over a little, so that he was halfway in front of Roy and _away_ from Paul, on the pretense of being excited for what was coming. As if.

But it wasn't like Paul was giving up—Edward could tell the man expected him to come back into his half-embrace as soon as they sat down again...that was _not_ happening. Ed locked eyes with Roy, whose expression was still livid. Under his breath, he hissed, "A little help?"

Roy nodded, just a slight jerk of his head. Edward didn't know what he planned, but that didn't matter as long as he didn't have to cuddle up to Paul. He shuddered as Mark began to speak.

"Now, now, settle down. Before I get to the message today, I have an important announcement! God has come to me in a dream, and told me that another one of you will be able to experience a miracle…who will it be?"

Everyone assembled cheered, vying for the opportunity. That was interesting—and deafening. It was all Ed could do to stop himself from clapping his hands over his ears.

"You!" Mark shouted. A hush fell over the crowd, and Edward only then thought about how disturbing the scene was. Fire blazing, the room was still dimly lit, and now completely silent as Mark pointed to a scraggly woman in front of him. "You, Elizabeth. You will receive God's miracle."

Ed stood on his tip toes to get a better look at the woman, Elizabeth, as she brought a hand to her mouth, smiling in ecstasy. "Thank you," she whispered "Oh, thank you!"

Mark held up his hands. "No need to thank me—thank God. Tonight, I will have you sleep here, and tomorrow you will be born anew. Now…you all may be seated."

Edward made to sit down, when hands grabbed him round the waist and pulled him to the floor. He yelped, but—no, this wasn't Paul.

This was Roy.

The fuck was he doing!?

Roy's arms were still wrapped firmly around Ed's waist, locking them together. The man was seated with his legs spread, Ed having fallen to the ground to fit nicely in between them. And even though he trird to move away, Roy wouldn't let him. Eager to not attract any more attention, Ed gave up, letting Roy hold him—but in whispers, he still fought. "What the hell?"

"I'm helping you," Roy mouthed.

"By being worse than him!?" Ed breathed indignantly.

"It's the only way I could think of, so suck it up. This is still better, right?"

Edward turned to face Mark, who was now standing in the middle of the crowd, and tried not to lean back into Roy's chest. Their position would have been more comfortable if he had done so, but that would also have been a whole lot of his ass a little too close to Roy's crotch.

And especially given the events of that morning, Ed wasn't sure he was too terribly comfortable with that. Still, he had to admit, it was definitely better than Paul.

Speaking of Paul…Edward glanced to his left to see how the man was taking Roy's move. Paul was frowning at them, and Ed gave a sort of apologetic glance. Internally, he was gagging, but…it might yet prove important for him to maintain contact—close contact, ew—with Paul in order to complete the mission.

So Ed had to make it seem like he wasn't altogether comfortable with Roy hugging him like that. This was perfectly true, so at least the acting on his part was minimal.

Mark was speaking now, and Edward watched as Paul's gaze left Roy to focus on the man in the center of the group. Ed didn't even bother trying to listen; it was just some stupid thing about _God_, which was complete and utter bullshit, so why bother paying attention?

His back was aching again, this time with the effort of keeping himself both upright and not on Roy. Well, he was already fucked…Edward let himself lean back against the man's chest, being careful not to press too much against his tender bits. Not only would it have been awkward, but placing his full weight on Roy's junk was bound to hurt, and Ed wasn't quite that horrible. Although, when Roy tightened his hold momentarily and Edward imagined the tiny, smirking grin that must have crept onto the man's face, he reconsidered this courtesy.

The longer Mark talked, the harder Ed found it to even pretend he was paying attention. More and more often he found himself dozing off, head lolling back onto Roy's shoulder. Every time he did this, the man squeezed his midriff to wake him up; after all, it wouldn't be the _best_ thing for Mark to catch him snoring during a sermon. Not that he snored.

Finally, _finally_ it ended—and Roy let him go. Edward stood, nearly losing his balance, and stretched, barely suppressing a yawn. He tottered out of the building, tripping a little on the stairs.

Mark, from inside, rang the bells for lunch. Ed was debating whether he should head straight for food or bother telling Roy off for his behavior, when a bit of an argument broke out behind him.

"What do you mean, 'steal him!?'" Roy asked, indignant. "For all you know, he didn't like you being so free with your hands—"

"Oh, yeah? You're one to talk, grabbing at him like that, he's probably afraid of you—"

Hurriedly, Ed pushed himself between the two men. Paul's brow was scrunched together, while Roy looked like he wished he had his lighter so he could set Paul on fire. "Hey, hey, stop! You two are acting ridiculous…"

Roy, breathing hard, stepped back a little. Edward looked at him, trying to convey through expression alone that he didn't mean what was about to come out of his mouth—being diplomatic was a pain. "I thought the idea here was that everyone belongs to everyone else. You don't have to be fighting over me." Which was fucking ridiculous in the first place, the hell was going on here? Maybe Ed _had_ fallen asleep and was dreaming…not that he'd be dreaming about Roy and Paul fighting for him. Ew.

There was a tense pause. "You're right," Paul muttered. "But that doesn't mean we would both have you at the same time."

Okay, that was _way_ outside of Edward's comfort zone. He barely repressed a shudder. "Yeah, well, I think I get some say in this, don't I?" Ed asked, voice lowering dangerously. "I'll decide what happens with me, thank you very much. So quit arguing, and let's just get some food, I'm starving."

"Fine," Paul agreed after a moment. He spun on his heels and led the way, while Edward hung back with Roy.

"You realize that now Paul is convinced you want my ass just as much as he does?" Ed clarified, raising his eyebrows. After all, Roy had just been a part of quite the scene, and had played the role of a jealous lover rather than a defensive boss. To be honest, Edward wanted some answers.

Roy snorted, still looking irritated. "It's not like that's what I was going for—I just didn't think he would let go of you unless someone else took hold, and then he had to be a prick and start something…"

Ed sighed. "This just keeps getting more and more complicated…"

"Especially considering there's going to be another 'miracle' tonight," Roy murmured.

Unfortunately, Edward knew what that meant. Any thought of problems with Paul was wiped from his mind as dread took hold. "I don't get to sleep tonight, do I?"

"Nope."


	12. Chapter 12

Edward flopped onto his bed, letting his feet dangle off the edge. "Remind me why we aren't sneaking over there now?"

Roy sighed impatiently. "I told you, Mark won't be doing anything right now, dinner's just ended. Just because you pass out right away—"

"—like you don't—"

"—doesn't mean everyone else does, and Mark has to wait until he can be sure everyone is asleep before doing anything. He won't want anyone to find out that what he's doing is alchemy and not a miracle."

Blowing a strand of hair out of his face, Ed responded, "Yeah, but what if he starts early and we miss something important?"

"Then we'll know for next time."

At that, Edward jerked upright, brows drawing together. "What do you _mean_, next time? We're going to get this over with tonight!"

He watched as Roy frowned, eyes sympathetic. "I wish we could, but we can't. You know that just as well as I do—sure, we could just go and take the Stone, but who's to say he won't just get a new one? The chances of wrapping everything up nicely in one night are pretty damn small."

Ed huffed, turning away from Roy. The man was right…and he didn't want to deal with that. He wanted to _leave_ already, not keep playing this stupid game.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I know," Edward sighed. He rolled over onto his side, so that he was once again facing Roy. "So…what are we supposed to do? I mean, obviously we'll go and see if we can't spot Mark transmuting that lady, but…do we stop it?"

Roy sat down next to him, so that Ed had to crane his neck to see the man's face. He had to suppress his laughter as Roy puffed out his cheeks, thinking. "This is going to sound horrible…but no."

That was a surprise. Edward pushed himself up onto one elbow. "Why not?"

"Because we have to think of the greater good," Roy answered, voice heavy. "Like I said, we have to keep this thing going to get all the information we need, and if we save this one woman then we won't be able to do that. So we have to let it happen."

Ed was quiet. It went against his general nature not to help someone, but he could see where Roy was coming from. After a long pause, the man murmured, "You know, it's times like these when I regret joining the military. Having to make these decisions…I'm not cut out for that."

"How could you say that!?" Edward responded angrily. "You can't think like that, Roy! The army's pretty shit, but you're one of the few decent people in that place!" He sat up as Roy gave a little _tch_ of disbelief. "I'm serious, damn it! Most of them are so corrupt, but you've got your little band of people trying to do the right thing…I know Ishbal was rough for you, but since I've joined the military I've never seen you be anything but fair and you always try to do what's right. Hell, like you've said, I wouldn't have even become a State Alchemist if it weren't for you, and if I hadn't done that…I don't mean to be melodramatic, but I don't know that I'd be around." Ed swallowed heavily. He hadn't wanted to get this personal, it just slipped out—but at least now Roy was watching him with interest. "I don't know if, without you pushing me into _doing_ something to fix my mistakes…I don't know that I could have lived with myself after what I did."

The man seemed dumbstruck at what Edward had said, and when he finally spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. "Thank you."

Ed merely nodded, flushing faintly now at how earnest he'd been—but it was all true. It was funny, in the short time they'd been at the colony, he and Roy had slept together and cuddled in public, but…now Edward felt closer to the man than ever. The air between them seemed heavy, buzzing with a certain sort of energy, and Ed couldn't seem to meet Roy's eyes.

They sat there like that, in that strange silence neither one seemed to know how to handle, until the bells rang for bed. That seemed to wake Roy up from his reverie; he lifted a hand and leaned forward, wrapping Edward in a one armed hug with a hesitancy he hadn't shown before. "C'mon," he murmured, releasing Ed. "Let's get going."

Edward nodded mutely, standing up and following Roy out the door, keeping low to the ground. His heart was hammering, not because of what they were doing, but because of that brief interaction. Something about it was very different than their usual discussions, something about the way he felt, a sort of inexpressible and not unpleasant weight in Ed's chest. And something about that something made him want more.

Shaking his head to force himself to concentrate, Edward trailed Roy, glad for the lack of electric light; it made it much easier to hide his automail when nothing bright was reflecting off of it.

It seemed like it took forever to get to Mark's house, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. It was the tension that did it; neither Ed nor Roy knew how rule breaking was taken in the community, and Edward for one was not eager to find out. Once there, they faced a problem; the building was raised off the ground, and the windows were too high for Roy to see into them, much less Ed.

"We could go around to the front?" Edward suggested, barely even breathing the words—given his earlier experience, he couldn't trust that the house's walls would keep his voice from carrying into the building.

Roy shook his head. "Too easy to spot us," he mouthed. "I'll have to lift you up."

"No way!" Ed hissed quietly. "Do you see this automail? I'm too heavy."

"Yeah, well, I know it's hard to tell, but I do some lifting every once in a while," Roy responded, managing to sneak a sarcastic tone into his whisper. The man knelt down beneath one of the windows and gestured to his back. "C'mon, get on my shoulders."

Edward hesitated only a moment, then climbed on carefully, keeping his hands firmly planted on the wall for some sort of stability. Once he was settled, Roy stood slowly, his hands locking around Ed's ankles.

It wasn't until Roy had straightened completely that Edward thought about the terribly compromising position he was now in, given that he didn't have any clothes on. A combination of embarrassment and a sudden breeze made him shiver. "Okay, I can see."

He felt, on his inner calf, Roy's hair shifting as the man moved his head. "Keep your eyes on the ground, Mustang," Ed warned, scowling, before turning his attention to what was going on inside Mark's house.

Though the fireplace, during the day, served to make the building more shadowy and mysterious, at night it provided a useful light source. Edward could make out a shape on the floor, asleep, that he assumed was Elizabeth. Mark was nowhere to be seen—Ed experienced a brief moment of panic, wondering if he'd somehow heard them outside, when the man came into view and knelt beside Elizabeth. He pushed, rolling her over, but she didn't wake up. Mark then pulled the rug away, causing Ed to gasp lightly as a transmutation circle carved into the floor was revealed.

That very morning, they had been sitting on those rugs…the circles had been so close, just underneath…the knowledge made Edward shudder.

Carefully, Mark rolled Elizabeth back into the circle, tucking her arms and legs in so that she fit. Ed wondered how he wasn't waking her up—was the woman naturally a deep sleeper, or had Mark slipped something in a drink of hers?

His heart sped up as he watched Mark walk away for a moment, coming back with something in his hand. A thought came to Edward—if what Mark held was indeed a Philosopher's Stone, why was he still using a transmutation circle? Wasn't the circle a mute point?

Perhaps Mark didn't know that, or maybe the circle was to guide the transmutation, while the Stone would just enhance it…still, it was strange.

Ed clenched his teeth together as the transmutation began, a red glow illuminating the scene for a moment—his eyes zeroed in on Mark's hand, holding a Stone no bigger than his thumb. Then his attention flipped to Elizabeth. In the light, he saw her form stretching as she grew taller, her limp skin tightening and the hints of muscles forming in her arms and calves. The change was nowhere near as extreme as Paul's, but Edward was sure she would still be a force to be reckoned with.

And then it was over. The light died, and Mark stepped away. Still confused and feeling a bit sick by what he had just witnessed—that poor woman didn't even know what had happened to her—Ed looked down and signaled to Roy that he was done. The man knelt, and Edward hopped off his shoulders.

"You okay?" Roy mouthed.

Ed shook his head. "Not here."

They made their way back to the house, and only then did Edward say anything. "It's just horrible, you know? She thought she was getting a miracle, and who knows what Mark did to her…"

"I know, Ed," Roy murmured, sitting down and rubbing his shoulder. Ed spotted red indentations from his automail foot.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, walking over to trace the angry lines. "I told you it was a bad idea."

"Don't worry about it—I'm more concerned about you," Roy said seriously, pointing at his leg.

Edward looked down, only to find that the skin around his automail port was faintly blue. A quick glance to his shoulder revealed the same there. "That's funny—I mean, I'm cold, but I can't even feel that…"

Roy's brow creased. "That's not a good sign, being numb like that. Get under the blankets."

Doing as the man asked, Ed heaved the covers onto himself, sighing with relief at the warmth. He felt Roy scooting closer, and jerked slightly when the man's hands began to massage his shoulder.

"Relax, Ed, I'm just trying to help the blood flow. Now, tell me exactly what you saw."

And so Edward recounted the story, and all the while Roy's hands rubbed his shoulder, and then his leg. When he finished, the man was silent, thinking.

"You know, I think the biggest problem is the fact that he had a Stone, but was still using a transmutation circle. I'm no expert, but I see no reason why he would have needed both—maybe just because he was transmuting a whole person, which is a pretty big deal…? I dunno, that worries me." Roy sighed, finally letting go of Ed's leg. "Whatever, we can worry about that later. We both could use some sleep—and I think you should be fine now, your skin's back to normal and everything."

"Thanks," Ed murmured, pulling his leg back under the blankets as he lifted them so Roy could crawl under as well.

The man smiled wryly at him before settling in. "G'night, Ed," he whispered.

"Night."


	13. Chapter 13

Again, with the bells. It wasn't like they were necessary, though—Roy was already awake.

He tightened his hold on the blonde beside him, even though he knew full well he'd be waking Edward soon. Roy was just experiencing a _tiny_ bit of denial.

He really didn't want to get moving.

Instead, Roy continued to run his hands through the boy's hair, forehead scrunching together as the bells finished clanging. Just like it had last night, keeping him awake, Roy's mind couldn't seem to stop going over the events of the previous day.

First was the whole Mark's-transmuting-people thing. The more he thought about it, the more it scared the shit out of Roy that he was combining a transmutation circle with a Philosopher's Stone. That had to pack a powerful punch, which meant there was (as he had feared since the beginning of this investigation) something else other than the obvious happening.

Which meant it was his job, his and Ed's, to figure out what that was. And to stop it—that was important too.

But no matter how pressing he reminded himself their mission was, Roy was, in all actuality, far more concerned about Paul. He was so sick of hearing that name, of even thinking it, of going over and over the same arguments in his head (as well as verbally) as to why he was so fucking angry about the man. And the worst part was, Roy couldn't keep using his "protecting his subordinates" response, because while that was definitely part of it, there was something else.

Like yesterday, when Paul had been manhandling Edward before Mark started speaking—when Roy thought about it, his first reaction had been a certain boiling in his stomach, a…jealousy. No matter what he told the blonde, Roy could have thought of some other way to get Paul away from him than hugging the boy himself—he just didn't want to. Getting to hold Ed was easily the most desirable option.

Roy almost laughed aloud—if Edward could hear what he was thinking, the blonde would have kicked his ass.

Speaking of which, he'd also be in for some trouble if he didn't wake Ed up in time for breakfast.

"Hey, Ed," he murmured, sitting up and shaking the boy lightly. "Wake up." When Edward didn't move, only muttered incoherently, Roy shook harder. "They've got bacon, Ed."

"Wha'?" the blonde mumbled, turning over to face Roy. "Bacon? They have bacon?"

"No—I just needed to get you up."

Edward groaned, but stretched instead of turning back over and dozing off again. "Asshole, you got me excited."

"Look, when we go home, I'll make you some bacon," Roy offered, standing up and stretching himself.

"I don't need your bacon," Ed muttered stubbornly as he got up as well. "I'll get my own bacon."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Come on, cheer up. We've got a big day ahead of us."

"We do?"

"Well, yeah—we have to figure out what to do next. You know," Roy continued, in response to the boy's blank look. "Figuring out what's going on with Mark and his Philosopher's Stone?"

Edward sighed and looked up at Roy as they walked out of the house. His expression was so _bare_ for a moment, so perfectly pouty, that Roy was certain it made his heart skip a beat. "Can we at least eat breakfast before we get into all that? I'm hungry."

"Of course—I'm not that mean."

* * *

><p>"Okay," Ed huffed, lowering himself to the floor in front of his net-making tools. He wasn't altogether pleased to have been given this task again. "Lay it on me?"<p>

"Lay what on you?" Roy asked, eyebrows raised. "That's a very suspicious question."

"What we're doing about Mark!" Edward whispered. "What'd you _think_ I was talking about?"

Turning to look at his own net, Roy smirked. "Nothing." The man's expression quickly became serious. "Well, just like you said, I think it's significant that he's still using a transmutation circle," Roy breathed. Ed looked around inconspicuously to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "So the next logical step is to figure out what the purpose of that is. The circle itself should tell us that—did you get a good enough look at it to see what markings were used?"

Edward was shaking his head before Roy had even finished. "No, it was too dark to make out that kind of detail, plus that lady was laid out on top of it, so most of the circle was blocked."

Beside him, Roy sighed, holding his netting up to the light. "I was afraid you would say that. This means we really only have one option."

"And what's that?"

"To get close enough to examine the transmutation circles."

This time it was Ed who let out a heavy breath. That was obvious, but he still didn't want to hear it. "Do you think we could just shift aside some carpet next time Mark's preaching at everyone? That'd be the easiest thing."

"And the most dangerous, with all those people around. You know better, Ed," Roy responded, still watching his hands, but with distant eyes. "No, unfortunately we'll have to get in there when no one else is in the building."

Edward stopped what he was doing for a moment as a thought struck him. "But—I just realized—I've never seen Mark leave his house, not except for meals."

"I know, and we can't do it then, we'd be missed."

"So, basically we have to sneak in?"

"Yep," Roy confirmed.

They sat in silence for a moment, Ed waiting. Finally he asked, "Well?"

"'Well,' what?"

"Don't you have a crazy scheme cooked up to get us in there?"

Roy turned to him, incredulous. "Why would I?"

Ed shrugged. "You're pretty good at thinking up plans that shouldn't work—but somehow they always do. Remember the train you had me take to Central, when I was coming for the exam?"

"Oh, yeah…"

"So? What do you have this time?" Edward prompted.

Closing his eyes, Roy set his half-finished (how they hell did he do that so fast!?) net on the ground and turned in Ed's direction. "I have only you and me to work with, rather than the team, and the need to not use alchemy if we can help it. In other words, I have a shit load of handicaps."

Edward waved him off. "You can still do it."

"As touching as your faith in me is—"

"Look, Roy, you just have to try to think of what we _do_ have instead of what we don't. We have you, and me, which isn't too bad in my opinion." Ed hurriedly went back to work as someone passed by, waiting until the man was out of earshot to continue. "And our only serious adversary is Mark, everyone else is more like a distraction."

Finally, it looked as though Roy was getting an idea. The man brought a hand to his mouth, biting on the finger, an oddly angry look in his eye. "Uh, Roy?"

"You know what else we have?" the man growled.

"No…?" Ed answered cautiously.

"Fucking Paul." Roy looked like he wanted to hit something. "Fucking Paul, who will be so glad you're speaking to him that he'll listen to what you have to say and not worry about the details."

Edward wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "Care to elaborate?"

"If you run up to Paul and tell him something, I don't know what, just tell him that _something's_ happening, something important enough for Mark to come take a look…I can sneak inside his house. No, scratch that!" Roy's voice was rising

"Roy, shh!" Ed hissed, looking around nervously. If they were caught…

"Sorry," the man muttered. "No, you'll have to investigate, because if you do need to use alchemy in a tight spot, you can. I'd only have my lighter, I couldn't do anything else…I could be the explanation, though. When Mark realizes nothing's happening, I can apologize, say you had a fever that morning and you were probably delusional. That's not bad…I could offer to stay in our house and take care of you, too, so you could update me and we could go from there."

Edward had to admit, he was impressed. Considering Roy had thought that up in about a minute, it was a pretty solid plan. Risky, but wasn't everything they were doing pretty damn risky? "Sounds good, but can I ask you a question?"

"I suppose."

"Are you always this…_frantic_ when you're coming up with a strategy?"

Roy looked into his eyes, then, a hard stare. "No," he finally responded, voice flat as he turned away. "I'm only like this when I don't like the plan, but there's not a viable alternative."

It was Ed's turn to stare at Roy. After a long moment, he leaned over, nudging Roy's arm with his shoulder. "Hey, don't be such a downer. Your plans always work, right? So we'll do fine."


	14. Chapter 14

Edward did not like running naked. He was used to the security of his leather pants (tight), and trying to sprint without them on felt a little like his balls were going to fall off.

Unfortunately, he had to ignore that.

"Paul!" Ed shouted. "Hey, Paul!"

Edward skidded to a stop and winced; it had seemed like a good idea, to make him look more keyed up, but skidding on a bare foot was a _horrible_ idea, made worse by the unpleasant screech of automail on rock.

"Ed?" Paul looked alarmed. Good. "What's up?"

Panting for effect, Edward answered, "There's people—coming this way—they look official."

The man's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything. Fine, then. "You go get Mark—he needs to know, he should go take a look—I'll warn everyone else."

"Yeah, okay," Paul agreed, his expression an odd mixture of confusion and surprise. Without looking back at Ed, the man headed off to Mark's house, awkwardly half-jogging.

Edward allowed himself a moment to congratulate himself before following Paul, quietly so that he wouldn't be noticed, keeping to the edges of the surrounding buildings and watching Mark's house. He didn't see Paul, so the man must have already gone inside…

Mark and Paul burst out of the building, hurrying down the steps and away, out towards the main road. That was good, but now...this was the tricky part.

Sprinting again, Ed made his way up to the front door, pushing it open—no locks, which was great news, because he didn't have time to deal with that. Edward slithered in and shut the door once more.

The building was dim, as it always was, lit only by Mark's fireplace. The plus side: it was warm.

Shaking his head, Edward forced himself to concentrate. He didn't have time to get distracted, as it wouldn't take Mark long at all to realize that there was no one coming. Ideally, if he had to stay in a little longer, Roy would be able to buy him a little more time, but he still only had minutes at best.

Ed made his way over to the rugs by the window he had peeped through before, pushing them aside and dropping to his knees to examine the transmutation circle. He couldn't keep himself from muttering aloud as he did so-call it a nervous habit.

It wasn't surprising that the circle resembled the one he'd used years back, but it sent a small jolt down his spine. Only, it wasn't quite the same—the connections were different, even broken in some places to join up with a smaller circle in the center, which (here he bent so that his face was almost touching the floor to get a closer look) a single word written within…

Understanding rushed through Ed, and he pushed himself back and up onto his feet, trying to calm himself down. It was just a theory, it wasn't as though he was certain—nothing like this had, as far as he knew, ever been tried before, so how could he be sure?—but it wasn't the best thought.

In even more of a hurry, now, to get out, Edward tossed the rugs back over the circle and ran to the door. He pulled it open just a crack, and looked out, relieved to see no one coming back just yet. Ed slipped back out of the building, and headed towards his house, where he was supposedly lying in bed that very moment.

* * *

><p>Roy stepped out from behind a building as he saw Edward slink out of Mark's house. He exhaled in a gasp, gulping in more air—he hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath. But those few minutes the boy had been inside had been terrifying.<p>

Now for the cover up. Roy jogged away in the direction Mark had gone, only to see the very same man coming back over the crest of the hill. A chill ran down Roy's spine as he realized just how close they had come to being caught.

"Mark!" he called out, waving to get the man's attention as he approached. "I'm so sorry, Ed told you the same story he told me, right?" Roy tried to keep his expression apologetic as he looked at Mark. Something was off about the man, he looked almost sickly…of course, Mark was already of a frail build, so maybe Roy was reading too much into things.

"Actually, he told Paul, but it's the same thing, really. Something about people in uniform coming up the hill?"

Roy closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm so sorry—he told me the same thing. He had a fever this morning, and I saw him on my way to come see you about it. He was talking to a building…" Roy sighed dramatically. "I think his fever must be so bad it's making him hallucinate. I took him back to our house so he could rest, but I'm really sorry about the trouble he's caused."

Only once he was done telling the lie did Roy dare to look Mark in the eye. The other man's stare was searching. "It's not your fault," Mark finally said. "These things happen. It's probably the chill—you two came at a bad time, you haven't had the chance to get used to the cold without clothing."

"Yeah, I thought that might be it…would it be okay if I went and took care of him for the day? Hopefully he'll be fine by tomorrow and can get back to work."

Once again, the man paused before answering, though the wait seemed more thoughtful than suspicious. "Yes, I suppose that's alright. Just don't go catching the same thing."

"Thanks!" Roy responded, smiling. He glanced at Paul, who was, in contrast, frowning heavily. No doubt the man was thinking that this meant Roy would have a whole day with Ed, and he didn't seem to be happy about it. Roy grinned a little wider and turned around, leaving Paul and Mark behind as he headed for the house.

* * *

><p>Curled up under the covers, Edward couldn't help but think this was a great plan. He'd gotten some information (bad, but he was sure he and Roy could handle it nevertheless, being in bed having boosted his confidence) and now he got to sleep all day. Not bad at all.<p>

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself."

Ed rolled over to see Roy standing in the doorway, grinning. With a groan, he sat up, still bundled in blankets. "There, professional enough for you?"

The man snorted and walked forward, sitting cross legged at the base of the bed. Ed heaved his legs up and around to mirror the pose, tossing a blanket over Roy's legs in the process. This was ignored. "So? What did you find out?"

Seriousness came over the room. "Nothing good. The transmutation circle was pretty similar to the one—to the one used for human transmutation." Ed stumbled over his words a bit. Even though Roy (obviously) knew about his incident with human transmutation, he was so used to covering it up that he couldn't say the words, couldn't claim the circle as something like the one he'd once used. Not aloud.

"Okay, but we already knew that—or at least, we knew he was doing human transmutation, so it makes sense. So…?"

"It was different, just a little. Some of the lines broke off in different places to connect to the center circle."

Roy ran fingers through his hair, looking stressed. "Yeah, but that could do any number of things."

"There was a word in the circle," Edward added quietly. "Just one."

"What word?"

"'_Imperium,_'" Ed responded. "It means—"

"Control." Roy's face was white.

Edward nodded. "Yeah. So I think…I think, somehow, Mark's using the Philosopher's Stone to control the people he changes."

They were both quiet for a moment. "But how?" Roy finally asked."How is that possible? Alchemy changes something, but it's not—it's not like a remote control. You can't just suddenly use it and make someone do what you want, that doesn't make any sense."

"Right," Ed agreed, leaning forward slightly. "So he must be putting something in them. Something he _can_ control."

Closing his eyes, Roy sighed heavily. Edward watched him, feeling absurdly guilty over having to relay such bad news. "I was hoping we wouldn't be right," the man murmured. "I was hoping it wouldn't be this complicated."

"Yeah, but I mean, we can still handle it."

Roy opened his eyes. "I know. It's just…I just have this feeling. Like this is getting more dangerous than I expected."

"So?"

* * *

><p>Roy took a deep breath in. "Isn't it normal for me to think that more danger sucks just a little?"<p>

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you just seem really upset about it. It's not like we haven't been in danger before, you know."

And Roy _did_ know, that's what made him so irritated. Because he'd been in plenty of tight spots, and so had Ed—hell, half the time he'd _sent_ the blonde into those difficult situations. So why, _why_ was Roy so reluctant to but Edward in danger again? Where was he getting this stupid protective streak?

"No, you're right," Roy said aloud, pushing away his internal misgivings—he'd just have to deal with this heavy feeling on his own. "We'll do just fine."


	15. Chapter 15

"I'm _bored_," Edward whined, throwing an arm over his face. Beside him, Roy sighed. "There's nothing to _do_."

"Did you really think pretending to be sick would be exciting?" Roy asked dryly. "You hate working here anyway, so stop complaining and just enjoy being able to relax."

Ed frowned and rolled onto his side to face the man. Roy was sitting upright, just staring out the window. That was all. How had he not turned into a statue yet!? Letting out a tiny, irritated sound, Edward turned over once more so that his face was buried in his pillow. He began to kick his legs, just a little, focusing on the rhythm to try to pass the time.

"Damn it, Ed!"

"What?" Edward asked, indignant as he turned his head to glare at Roy.

"Can't you find some other way to entertain yourself?"

"You could always fucking talk to me, you know," Ed muttered, trying to avoid sounding like he was pouting. Admittedly, that was pretty hard, considering he was doing nothing _but_ pouting. "We're stuck in here all day now, and you've been silent for the last half hour!"

Roy's expression flickered, his irritation slipping for a moment into something like worry, only...much more intense. That was strange. "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"

Edward groaned, flipping over onto his back. "Are you _kidding_ me? Is this how you get all the girls back home? By being that awkward with conversation?"

"Are you asking me to seduce you?"

"What!?" Ed yelped, flushing crimson. "No! I'm just saying you have to have better social skills than that, _fuck_."

Roy laughed. "Okay, okay, calm down. I'm just messing with you."

"You'd better be."

More relaxed now, the man scooted down so that he was, more or less, laying down as well. "But really, I don't know what you want to hear. I'm a little preoccupied with what's happening here, you know? It's hard to just talk about the weather or some stupid shit when so much is going on."

"I guess…" Edward trailed off as he tried to think of something. Anything they could talk about. "What made you join the military?" he finally asked, a little tentative.

The man seemed surprised. "Why?"

"I dunno. I just realized I didn't know, and I was kind of curious…"

"Well," Roy began, "That's kind of a long story."

"I've got a while," Ed reminded him.

"Fine, fine. When I was your age—"

"No," Edward interrupted. "You are _so_ not pulling that bullshit. That's like, the worst beginning to a story _ever_. Besides, you're not that old." Beside him, Roy grinned, and Ed scowled, realizing the man had taken that as an offhand compliment.

"How about this, then? Once upon a time—"

"I swear I will punch you in the nuts."

Roy seemed to realize he was being serious, even though he laughed. "Okay, no more joking around. When I was a kid, around seven or eight, actually, I was already living with Madame Christmas. I didn't know anything about alchemy, not yet, and I guess I was a pretty normal kid. And like any other normal kid, I got into my fair share of trouble."

Edward scooted a little closer as Roy paused. "Even now, this memory scares the shit out of me, and I guess that's because I didn't know what to do, then. Me and a friend were just running around—I think it had evolved into a cross between tag and hide-and-seek. I was chasing him when he ran into an alley. I told him to stop—maybe it was because my parents were gone so I knew the world wasn't perfect, but I was more tuned in to the possibility of danger than he was."

This wasn't the story Ed had expected at all. Of course, it was the tale of how Roy had decided to join the military, but even so, it was looking kind of grim. "He didn't come back out—didn't take me seriously, probably—and so I ran after him," the man continued. "What else was I supposed to do? Leave? So I kept chasing him into this maze of alleyways, and I'm not ashamed to admit I was a little scared. I didn't even know where I was anymore…but I couldn't leave my friend behind to get out."

That was so hard to picture, and yet it fit. Regardless of how he liked to joke around about Roy being a bastard, Edward knew he had quite the heart when it came to the people the man cared about. So him chasing his friend into an alley wasn't hard to imagine—no, the hard part was Roy being _scared_. It wasn't something Ed saw all that often.

"I heard him scream ahead of me, and all I wanted was to turn tail and run. But I didn't. I turned into another alley, and there was my friend, on the ground. There was a man just beside him, and I watched as he lifted my friend up. At that point I shouted—partially because I was terrified and partially because I wanted to stop him. I didn't know what was going to happen."

"Sorry to butt in," Edward whispered. "But does this story have a happy ending?"

Roy seemed to break out of a reverie. He turned his head to look at Ed, and smiled, reaching an arm around to ruffle his hair. "Of course it does."

That was a relief. Edward _really_ didn't want to hear about some poor kid getting molested or anything today. "Okay. Keep going."

"Well, the guy turned to me and he just grinned, and he put my friend down but started coming after me. I turned to run, but he was _huge_ and I was so young, and he grabbed me. He picked my friend back up and shoved us under his arms and started walking. I know I should have been yelling, making as much racket as possible, but I couldn't make a sound. Honestly, I thought I was done for."

"But you weren't."

"Nope. He rounded a corner, and there was a woman there. A woman in uniform. I still don't know who she was…but she told him to put us down. He just laughed, wanted to know what some lady was going to do if he didn't. Totally calm, she pulled out her gun."

"Sounds like Lieutenant Hawkeye," Ed interrupted again.

Roy's smile widened. "Yes, I think that's why I like the Lieutenant so much. Anyway, he didn't believe her, so she said she was sorry and shot him in the arm. He dropped me, because of the pain, and I just sort of knew her apology had been directed at me. But I was fine—a couple of scrapes on the knees, nothing I couldn't take. He let go of my friend, then, and turned tail and ran."

"She didn't let him get away, did she!?" Edward asked, indignant.

Roy rolled over to face him and tweaked his nose. Ed frowned. "No, she didn't. She fired one more shot, and I heard him fall. Then she came up to me, and asked if I was okay. I told her yeah, and she laughed, because I wasn't even crying. But why would I be? I knew I was safe. She asked my friend the same thing, only he was much more shaken up. Once she calmed him down, she went off to deal with the man…but she turned back to me. All she said was, 'You should be in the military.' And then she walked away."

"So…you joined just because someone told you to?" Ed was incredulous. "Doesn't that make you a pushover?"

"You realize all I had to do to get _you _to sign up was suggest the same thing," Roy reminded him. Edward stuck his tongue out. "But no, that wasn't it. It was that she inspired me. Someday, I wanted to be able to protect people like that. I wanted to have little boys grow up wanting to be like me. I wanted to save people. And that desire hasn't gone away, so I do what I can."

Despite all his earlier interruptions, Edward was quiet then. He was…touched. Roy, even though he tried to hide it, really had a pure, simple heart. "You do good."

"I'm sorry? What was that?" Roy asked, grinning as he held a hand up to his ear.

"Shut up," Ed growled, punching the man lightly on the arm. "You heard me. You're pretty damn good at the saving-people thing. And—" he blushed, but made himself finish. "I'm _not_ a little boy…but I can think of worse things than ending up like you."

For a second, Roy looked like he was going to cry or something stupid like that. Then he was just laughing.

Then the man grabbed Edward's head, pulled him closer, and kissed him on the forehead.

Hold up.

Rewind.

Roy got up and walked towards the door and Ed still couldn't comprehend what had just happened. "I'm going to go grab some lunch—I'll bring it back, okay?"

"Yeah…okay." But Edward was answering an empty room, red faced and not entirely sure what to do with himself.


	16. Chapter 16

Roy hurried away from the house, face burning. He was _so_ lucky that it actually _was_ time for lunch—the bells were ringing even as he thought that. Getting food provided the perfect excuse; he needed time to collect his thoughts after…that.

What did he just do? Okay, no, that was a stupid question. Roy had kissed Edward—but only on the forehead! That wasn't _really_ that weird, was it? A forehead kiss could be perfectly platonic; it could be something a parent or something did, right? It didn't have to mean anything.

But if it didn't mean anything, then why was Roy's heart thumping like he'd been running for miles?

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It really was a fairly normal reaction, in hindsight. After all, Ed had just said something so…so _sweet_, so out of character. Not that the boy was usually a jackass, but he tended to hide his kindness behind toughness, so it was definitely a special moment. There was nothing strange about showing his gratitude for the comment through a kiss. On the forehead.

Roy groaned aloud. That was bullshit, and he knew it. A simple, "Thanks," or even a hug would have been natural. A kiss, even on the forehead, took it a little further. That wasn't something even friends were likely to do, and it sure as hell wasn't something coworkers did.

So what did that make it? If Roy stopped trying to kid himself…what was it in him that made him decide to kiss the boy?

That was a bit of an unfair question, as he hadn't really _decided_ to do it—it had just happened. Until he had pulled away, Roy had felt like that was the only thing _to_ do. A kiss. It just made sense, in the moment. It was a gut instinct. Okay, so, change the question—what was it in him that made it his natural reaction to kiss Ed?

Roy shivered, and not from the cold. Whatever it was, it hadn't gone away. He was a little shaken up over his sudden action, but in no way did Roy regret what he did. Realistically, he'd do it again, given the chance. After all, Edward's reaction, that red-cheeked confusion, had been _so_ adorable…

Someone decided to interrupt that intriguing train of thought. "Hey! How's Ed doing?"

Roy looked up and scowled—Paul was the _last_ person he wanted to see right now. He'd just been getting over his shock, too, feeling oddly warm more than anything… "He's fine," Roy answered curtly, moving to walk around the other man and grab some food so he could _go_.

But Paul wasn't going to let him leave that easily—the man stepped in front of Roy. "Can I come by? I'd like to see him."

That same pleasant feeling in his chest suddenly turned fiery. "I don't think so."

Paul crossed his arms, and Roy tried to remember that this man had been transmuted; he didn't know what might happen if they got in a fight. Control. That was easier said than done. "Why not?"

"He's sleeping," Roy muttered, looking away and clenching his fists. "And he's _sick_, okay? You can see him tomorrow. Right now, because I'm not a conceited dickwad who only wants to get some and I actually care about Ed, _I'm_ going to get him some food. Alright?" With that, he pushed forward, trying to keep his breathing calm. He knew he was probably going to get an earful from Mark later about his language and keeping peace in the community or some other bullshit. But he had every right to get angry. This was his day with Ed, without anyone else butting in—

Where had that come from?

Inhaling steadily, Roy piled a double serving of food onto one plate—he didn't trust himself to carry two, with how distracted he was—and headed back off to the house.

And then he faced a new issue: what was he supposed to say to Edward? The blonde would have had time to work up a serious fit by now, and Roy doubted he'd be cool with the kiss. He sighed—at least he had food to offer up, that might distract Ed…

But really, was it as big a deal as he was making it? No. It was just a kiss on the _forehead_, it wasn't like he made out with the boy. Hell, they slept next to each other every night, so the contact wasn't really knew…aside from the fact that it was a _kiss_. But still, Edward might just brush it off as an emotional thing…or at least, tease him about it, but not get angry.

Roy was fine.

Or rather, he convinced himself of that until he walked in the door and saw Ed sitting exactly the way he'd left the blonde, cheeks still tinged with a pink that flared up as he caught sight of Roy.

* * *

><p>The few minutes Roy had been gone hadn't made Edward's head any clearer. The man, who had just walked back in carrying a plate piled high with lunch, seemed flustered as well. "Hey," Roy said, grinning sheepishly. "I'm back."<p>

Ed ignored that comment, and, not even thinking about it, blurted out, "What was _that_?"

The man winced. "A forehead kiss. Emphasis on _forehead_, not the kissing part."

"Yeah, I mean, I got that…I guess—why…?"

Roy shook his head, and Edward thought he _might_ have seen a little bit of a flush in the man's face. "I dunno. I didn't really think about it, I just…went for it."

Though he couldn't quite put his finger on a reason why, Ed's heart was hammering so hard he almost wondered if it was audible, if Roy could hear it across the room. This was, he knew, the part where he should start yelling at Roy for invading his personal space and being creepy and any number of other things…but he just couldn't muster up such a negative feeling. Or any negative feeling, really. However, he wasn't short on feeling in general.

Roy was watching him closely, probably gauging his reaction, but Edward didn't say anything. He didn't know what he was _supposed _to say. Finally, the man spoke up. "I really don't know, Ed. I can't explain it. It was just this emotion that welled up in me and it seemed…it seemed like the thing to do." He paused, bit his lip as though in hesitation, then carried on. "But whatever the reason, I'm not apologizing for forehead-kissing you."

Edward laughed, a loud sound that surprised them both. "That's okay, because I don't seem to want you to apologize."

He'd finally found his voice (rather unexpectedly), but it seemed like Roy had lost his. "Sorry…_what_!?"

"I should be really pissed at you," Ed explained, not quite looking Roy in the eye. He wasn't embarrassed yet, or at least no more so than before, but he had a feeling his words were going to run away from him, and watching the man wasn't going to help him keep himself in check. "But I'm not mad. Not at all. I mean, I'm surprised, but…" Damn it! There it was, creeping discomfort. Edward closed his mouth.

"But what?" Roy prompted, the ghost of a smile causing his cheeks to twitch.

Again with the stupid heart pounding thing. "I didn't really mind you kissing me—my forehead, I mean!" Ed corrected awkwardly. "It was…fine."

* * *

><p>Roy thought his face was going to tear in two, he was grinning so hard. "Fine? So…nice? You liked it?"<p>

"Don't push it!" Edward shouted. Roy had never seen the blonde's face this red, and that was saying something, considering they had both been walking around in a nudist colony lately.

As he watched the boy squirm, refusing to look him in the eye, that bright warmth took over Roy again. He felt as though he was floating and yet he was so heavy, feeling filling his chest to the point where it _hurt_—in the best way he could imagine. It was _wonderful_, kind of like how he imagined—

Oh. _Oh_. So _that's_ what this feeling was.

Emboldened by his little discovery and Ed's face (which was too perfectly _cute_ and so unlike the blonde for words), Roy stepped forward. He placed the plate of food down on the bed beside Edward, and leaned in, pressing another kiss to the top of Edward's head. No need to push it, but it was such a satisfying action, especially when the boy gave a little squeak—but didn't move away.

Roy pulled back, still buoyant. "Let's eat this before it gets cold, okay?"


	17. Chapter 17

For the first time since arriving in the community, Edward was awake before Roy was. Although, he wasn't sure if it really counted, considering how little he'd slept last night. First of all, having taken yesterday off, Ed hadn't really been that tired. But more importantly was the man he was currently pressed up against.

If he looked back, the Edward before the nudist colony wouldn't have put up with this cuddling shit. And he sure as hell wouldn't have more or less given Roy permission to go around planting kisses on his head, something the man had been doing at every chance since lunch yesterday.

But Ed didn't precisely miss being so uptight. Away from everyone else, Edward had…mellowed. It felt almost like it did when he was alone with Alphonse, like he didn't have to pretend to be tough, he didn't have to make sure he presented himself a certain way. Ed could just be Ed. And as alarming as it was to feel that with Roy, it was, at the same time, more than welcome. Being so young and in the army, Edward tended to feel like he had a lot to make up for, but away from all that…well, Roy didn't seem to give a fuck if he was a little softer.

In fact, the man kind of seemed to enjoy it.

Which was weird.

Like yesterday, when Ed had let him off the hook for kissing his head, Roy had seemed, first, relieved—he'd probably been expecting a scene—and then…excited? And the first effing thing the man did was kiss him again!

So why didn't Edward mind?

For the same reason he didn't really care, anymore, that he was unclothed and being hugged by Roy while he was sleeping: the affection was nice. Something he wouldn't have expected from the great and mighty Colonel Roy Mustang, that's for sure.

Ed laughed silently, shoulders shaking infinitesimally. Here he was thinking about how he was able to let _his_ guard down, and Roy was doing the same thing! Oh, how life could change within just one short week. Although, maybe it wasn't that he had changed, so much as a part of him that was usually dormant was being allowed to see the light of day. If Edward thought about it, really, he'd always been at least grudgingly more comfortable around Roy than the others, no matter how much they teased each other. After all, the man had brought Ed to the military and out of a bad place after his failed attempt at human transmutation—that was a connection. He just didn't usually let it show.

The chuckles subsided, and Edward rolled over so that he was facing Roy, his head pressing nicely into the man's shoulder area.

Safe. That was the word he was looking for. Even though they were in a nudist colony, investigating an almost certainly dangerous use of a Philosopher's Stone, Edward felt…safe. Safe with Roy.

He jerked, surprised as the morning bells rang out. Roy began to stir, a lighter sleeper than Ed usually was, so he backed away just a little to stretch. Though he'd been awake, now that it was actually time to get up, Edward felt exhausted.

"You awake?" Roy asked.

"Mostly," Ed responded as he sat up. Roy followed suit, leaning in to press a kiss to the side of his head. Edward rolled his eyes as the man got up out of bed. "Are you going to be doing that so often all the time now?"

Roy didn't even pause, countering, "Are you going to stop me?"

Lacking an answer that was both honest and suitably defiant—as safe as Edward felt around Roy, he didn't want to give up his sarcastic edge entirely—he didn't respond, simply falling back against the covers. "I don't want to get up."

"You have to, it's Saturday."

Ed closed his eyes. "So?"

"So, we have another meeting in Mark's house today," Roy answered. Even though Edward couldn't see the man, he could hear the raised eyebrows in the tone.

"Shit." The last thing Ed needed was to have to listen to that stupid shit for who knows how long.

"Come on, Ed. It'll be fine, at least it's not work."

Giving in, Edward opened his eyes and sat up, eyes falling on Roy. Something about the way the light from the now-open door was hitting the man made him…attractive? Suddenly, Ed felt terribly warm.

"Okay, okay, let's go eat…" he muttered, trying to hide his reaction. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Looking at Roy like that. Fucking stupid.

The man held the door open for him like a gentleman on the way out.

* * *

><p>Ed never would have chosen a breakfast of dried fruit and rolls, but it was surprisingly good. The company…not so much.<p>

As soon as he sat down, he heard, "You feeling any better, Ed?"

"Mm-hmm, yeah," Edward mumbled through his full mouth. "Doing fine now, Paul, thanks." Paul, across the table, smiled, and Ed felt a foot nudge his own, sending shivers up and down his spine. _Not _the good kind.

Edward jerked his leg back, just as Roy sat down beside him. Close, very close, but that was a relief. Having the man nearby tended to keep Paul at bay.

Looking up, he just barely caught an electric, angry look passing between the two men. Ed did his best to ignore it, to decrease the tension just a little. "So, Rebecca, how's it going?"

With anyone else, this question wouldn't merit much of an answer, but Rebecca was chatty and that was good, because now the attention was _off_ him and _on_ her. All he wanted to do was eat and try to muster up enough energy to not fall asleep during Mark's little sermon.

The bell to end breakfast rang _way_ too soon, and Ed sighed lightly as he got up, merging with the crowd and heading into the building, Roy close at his side. As soon as he walked through the doorway, the man leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Do you want to sit with me again?"

From the tone, Ed knew he didn't just mean sit, he meant like before—practically on top of Roy. So…what was he supposed to say? No might mean Paul would make a move, and yes meant more contact with the man.

Was that even a negative thing?

Edward shook his head to clear it, then realized how that must look. "Yeah, okay," he murmured back. "But, like…not quite."

Roy raised his eyebrows but didn't question, following Ed to a corner. They stood, waiting for Mark to enter, Paul sliding neatly in beside them without a word.

Edward was too far behind everyone to see when Mark came in, but he knew it was time to pay attention when a hush came over the crowd.

"Yes, yes, welcome, everyone. Before we begin, I have an announcement…there will be another miracle—" Mark's voice was cut off by the sudden cheers. When they finally died down, he continued softly, "But this will be the last one."

The crowd murmured in collective disappointment. Meanwhile, Ed shared a significant glance with Roy. The last "miracle," huh? That had to mean something.

"Tonight," Mark went on, "I want…Simon to come here and experience the miracle."

More mutters, several disgruntled looks. A man not far off from Edward raised his hand. "Mark…why me? I mean…I'm grateful, but I'm already…" At a loss for words, he gestured to himself, and Ed knew what he meant. This Simon was already muscular, just as much so as Roy, actually. And it was natural, too, it wasn't like the man had already been transmuted.

"God has his reason's, I'm sure," Mark responded lightly. "What they are, I don't pretend to know, but he has made his decision and we shall obey."

Though there were still some unhappy faces in the group, everyone seemed to accept this as they sat down for the real message. Ed, for his part, sat down next to Roy before nudging the man's shoulder and giving him a meaningful look. Roy's eyes lit up with understanding, and he stretched an arm around Edward's shoulders, kissing the top of his head yet again, just lightly, for good measure. Judging from the quiet, irritated noise to his left, Ed assumed Paul had seen, and didn't approve in the slightest.

Edward exhaled heavily, settling into Roy's side. Everything seemed to be coming together, with this last miracle approaching, and tensions running high between Paul and Roy. The trouble was, Ed had no idea where anything was going with the first problem, it was all still a mystery, and with the second…well, Edward knew who he wanted to win _that_ fight.

He could have hit himself. Honestly, the way his thoughts kept running away from him…Ed needed more sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

Edward _hated_ being dirty. It was pointless and stupid and an easy thing to fix. No, he wasn't going to shy away from something just because he would get some dirt on him, but he would sure as hell clean up afterwards. So, during his time in the community, Ed had made a habit of trekking over to the lake every once in a while to wash his hair.

But as satisfying as that feeling was, this particular night was freezing, and by the time Edward had made it back to the house he couldn't feel his scalp.

Roy, who was sitting on the bed, jumped up in alarm as Ed walked in, eyes glued to his sopping head. "What the actual fuck do you think you're doing?"

"I d-don't know about you, b-but I fucking _hate_ greasy hair, a-and I needed to wash m-mine," Edward stuttered, shivering as he headed over to the bed.

"You couldn't have dealt with it for now? It's cold out," Roy muttered, exasperated as he grabbed a smaller blanket and wrapped it around Ed's head.

Edward frowned. "I know, b-but it was _gross_." He pulled up another blanket around his shoulders, glaring up at Roy. "I'd rather be cold than not be able to sleep because I'm filthy."

"I don't like being dirty either, but you don't see me pulling this shit—at night time, too."

"Shut up and sit down," Ed demanded. "I need warmth."

Sighing through a sudden grin, Roy did as he was bid, climbing on the bed and leaning back against the headboard before pulling Edward to him. "Fuck, you're cold."

"Whatever." They were silent for several minutes, during which Roy ran absentminded fingers up and down Ed's back underneath the blanket. The effect was extremely pleasant, though sometimes the man's hand snuck just a _little_ too far down, making Edward shiver. Eventually, he asked, "So, we're going out tonight, right? To go see what Mark does with that Simon guy?"

"We have to." Roy let out a short, irritated sigh. "You're going to get hypothermia."

"Nah, look, we still have a little bit before the bells go off and everyone's asleep, right? And my hair's been drying for a while. I'll be fine."

Edward could hear the sound of Roy gritting his teeth. "You have an astounding disregard for your personal health, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, you have a freakish amount of concern for my well being, so it balances out, yes?"

Though the man was clearly still unhappy, he let out a little snort of laughter. Ed looked up at him. "I have an idea."

"Oh? What is it?"

Edward shivered slightly. Roy's tone had turned a little mischievous for a second there, giving him chills. "You should totally do the spying tonight. I can hold you up."

This brought on actual laughter—the man was shaking with it. "Yeah, right. I don't think so, Ed."

"Why not?" Edward asked, indignant now.

"First off, because I don't think you can actually handle my weight on your shoulders for that long."

Frowning, Ed retorted, "Yes I can! You can lift me—"

"Yes, but I'm taller than you and also have more muscle mass," Roy interrupted. "You're strong, I'll give you that, but not to that extent."

Irritated, Edward replied, "Was there a second reason?"

"Yes. I quite appreciate the view from underneath you."

Ed's cheeks flared up even before he quite comprehended what Roy had just said. He couldn't speak, just lay there, gaping at the man's triumphant grin.

"W-what the _fuck_?" Edward spluttered after a heartbeat. "You _pervert!"_ He raised himself slightly, lifting an arm to smack Roy on the shoulder, hard.

"Kidding, Ed kidding," Roy laughed, patting him on the head—or rather, patting the blanket that was still wrapped around his hair. "Calm down."

"You scare the shit out of me, you know that?" Edward huffed, cautiously letting himself fall back against Roy's chest. "You're a menace."

"Thank you. I do my best."

Again, Ed shivered. "Seriously. Don't pull that shit. It's enough that I have to deal with Paul—you realize he was getting _footsy_ with me at breakfast? Ugh."

Suddenly, Roy's arms, which had been loosely draped across Edward's back, tightened. "We're going to have to do something about him soon," he decided in clipped tones. "He's getting more forward."

"Only because you're doing the same thing." That surprised both of them. Ed blinked, then went on. "I mean, like how you hug me and shit in public now. He sees that as a threat."

"It is a threat. He touches you and I'll kick his ass."

* * *

><p>Roy broke out of his irritated reverie when Edward busted out in laughter. "You sound like—like a dad or something! Threatening to murder his little girl's boyfriend!" The blonde looked like he would have kept talking, only he was giggling too hard to speak at that point.<p>

On the other hand, Roy felt like he'd just been knifed. Father-zoned. Really? Could it get any worse? Coworkers was fine, coworkers got together all the time. Friend-zoned was tougher, but he could do it. Definitely. Even brother-zoned would have been better. _But fucking father-zoned_!?

Covering up for the internal disappointment he felt, Roy responded simply, "Does that make you my little girl?"

That brought Edward up short, his laughter breaking off abruptly. "Fuck, no. I'm not anybody's little _girl_, we've been walking around in a nudist colony, you know that."

"Yes, I have gotten a little glimpse of parts that would prove the contrary."

The blonde flushed. "And don't say I'm you're little boy either. You're not my dad. I wouldn't even say you're _like_ a dad."

Relief. Sweet relief. "All of my dreams, crushed."

"No…" the boy murmured, sounding thoughtful. "Because you don't want to be a father figure to me, do you?"

* * *

><p>Edward was caught off guard by his own words. They'd just sort of come out of his mouth, but they felt so true. It didn't feel like Roy tried to be like a dad to him, it felt…<p>

His train of thought was interrupted by the sudden sound of the bells chiming. A tension he hadn't noticed before seemed to drain from the room as Ed stood up, pulling the now wet blanket off his still damp hair. "Time to go?"

"Yeah, we don't want to miss anything."

Ed led the way out, walking as quietly as possible over to Mark's house, to the same window they'd used to spy last time. Without a word, Roy squatted to allow Edward to get on his shoulders, and despite his earlier argument, he obliged.

Tottering slightly, Ed peered in the window. It misted slightly as he breathed, but Edward could still see Simon lying in a transmutation circle across the room, this one larger than the one Mark had used with Elizabeth. It made sense—Simon was much bigger, he wouldn't have fit in the last one.

Edward grew steadily colder as he watched the same process as last time unfold beneath him. Mark came into view with a Philosopher's Stone, beginning to transmute the sleeping Simon. This time, the transformation was more dramatic. Simon, who was already muscular, began to positively bulge, skin straining to contain the extra muscle mass. By the time Mark stopped, the man looked like he was about to pop, muscles defined to the point of them being gruesome. Ed shuddered, a nauseous feeling sweeping over him.

He watched Mark walk away, and noticed something odd—the hand holding the Stone was much more tightly clenched, and the Stone not visible at all. Almost as if it had…shrunk.

That was odd, and a little worrisome.

Ed nudged Roy's shoulder with his foot to let him know he was ready to be lowered down. Again the man crouched, and Edward jumped off lightly before making his way back to the house.

"What happened?" Roy asked as soon as they cleared the doorway.

"The same thing as last time. The only thing I noticed is that as Mark walked away, it looked like maybe the Stone had shrunk. He was holding it tighter, like it might fall out of his grip or something."

Roy pondered that for a moment, a troubled expression coming across his face. "You don't think he's putting some of the Philosopher's Stone _into_ them, do you? For control?"

That hadn't occurred to Edward. "I dunno, it's possible. Yes, we know he's trying to control them somehow…but would that do it? If he has part of the Stone, could he control the other bits?"

"I don't know, this…this is all unchartered territory." Roy sat down heavily on the bed, running his fingers through his hair. "The other thing is that if these people have pieces of the Stone in their bodies, they must have something other than muscles to show for it. The Philosopher's Stone is powerful, I would think it would have extra effects."

At the reminder of muscles, Ed recalled Simon. He sat down as well, stomach restless. "You're going to flip when you see Simon. That poor guy...he looks like a monster. I don't know what Mark's playing at, but…"

"It's going to be bad," Roy finished. "I know. But it looks like we'll find out what it is soon, considering this was supposed to be the final 'miracle.' He's got to move on to the next stage of his plan, whatever it is."

Edward let himself fall backwards, rolling over to get into a comfortable position. "We'd better get some sleep then. So we're ready and all."

"You're just tired, aren't you?"

"Shut up."

Ed heard the sound of quiet laughter, felt a pressure on his head. Roy, kissing him again. Edward closed his eyes, sighing as the man got under the covers with him, and tried not to worry about what the morning could bring.


	19. Chapter 19

When Edward woke from Roy's shaking him the next morning, he found it hard to speak. The imminent threat of…well, whatever might be happening, it was too much. He had to stay focused, couldn't waste time on making conversation. It wasn't like this was the first time Ed would be in a fight—it wouldn't even be the hundredth—but not knowing what he was up against always made Edward a little more serious.

Usually, he could joke around, but in this case…not so much. Roy seemed to be in a similar state, not speaking either, and merely clapping Edward on the shoulder before they exited the house.

Even from a distance, they could see that something was up. The crowd behind Mark's house seemed agitated, not in the usual calm state of breakfast. Ed's breathing quickened to match his heartbeat, and he clenched his fists. It was go time.

On the positive side, at least when this was over he could a) put on some clothes, and b) go home.

Although, oddly enough, going home—which just meant heading to a hotel in Central for a few days for him—wasn't nearly as appealing a thought as it should have been.

Edward would have liked to dissect that fact, but they had reached the throng of people. Roy shouldered his way to the center, with Ed following behind. There, they found Mark, holding up his hands for silence, standing next to a stunned Simon.

Both men looked horrific. Simon looked almost like some monstrous version of Major Armstrong, tall and wide, only his muscles, instead of looking healthy, seemed to be splitting his skin—literally. Here and there, along with the transmutation marks, Simon's skin was stretching, angry red lines popping up alongside bulging veins. Mark was the polar opposite; it would have been comical, seeing them stand together, if it hadn't been so disgusting. He was thin in the extreme, bones on clear display, his skin pale and his eyes shrunk back in his head.

"Please, everyone, keep calm," Mark was shouting. "Be still, and I will explain."

Gradually, the crowd quieted. Ed felt Roy tense up beside him, ready to spring into action as Mark went on. "I know, this is unusual. I must admit, it comes as quite a surprise to me as well. When I woke up this morning, I found myself in this state—but God sent me a message!"

It took all of Edward's willpower not to call bullshit.

"He needed Simon to receive more than anyone before. He needed Simon to be stronger than any one of us, an asset to the community! And to do that, he needed some of my help!"

Click. That's what it was. In his sea of lies, Mark had told exactly one truth: he had given part of himself away. _That_ was how the control worked! Combined with the transmutation circle, Mark could place a piece of the Stone _and_ a piece of himself inside another person's body, giving him access…through the understanding, nausea welled up in Ed. He reached out unthinkingly, grabbing Roy's hand and squeezing it, hard.

The man glanced down at him, eyes widening when he took in Edward's expression, his paling face. But he didn't understand. Ed would have to update him later, if there was a later before shit got real. For now…best to continue to listen to Mark, lest he drop another hint.

"I know this is strange, certainly not something we've seen before. But think of the gift God has given us! Simon can now do the work of ten men, maybe more! As our community grows, we will need him to keep us supported! God has provided, my friends."

Unbelievable. All around Edward, people were murmuring, not in dissent now, but in agreement, nodding their heads like the shit Mark was spouting actually made sense.

"Please, try to keep that in mind, and don't judge Simon—or indeed myself—too harshly for the changes God himself has brought upon us. Now, to breakfast—there is work still to be done."

A numbness spread over Edward. The crowd scattered, leaving him and Roy behind. That was…it? Mark had gone through all that, performed his last "miracle," and he wasn't going to do anything now?

What was going on in this place?

Noticing that they were alone and not wanting to stick out—Mark felt more dangerous than ever, now—Ed pulled Roy away, their hands still locked together. He couldn't wait, he couldn't chance it! Better to be sneaky now than unprepared later. He took cover in a clump of bushes.

"What is it, Ed?" Roy breathed.

"What Mark said, about giving himself away—that's exactly what he's been doing."

With the important bit of the man's speech pointed out to him, Roy leapt to the same conclusion Edward had right away, inhaling sharply through clenched teeth. "Shit."

"Yeah, that just about sums the situation up. What I can't figure out is—"

"—why Mark isn't doing anything now," Roy finished. "I know."

Before either one of them could continue the discussion, the branches of the bush they were hiding behind were roughly pushed aside. "It's time for _breakfast_," Paul growled, eyebrows drawn together. The sight sent a jitter of panic running through Edward; yes, he'd seen the man irritated before, but this was a more intense anger than usual, and it was scary as fuck.

Without a word, he and Roy exited the bush and joined everyone else at breakfast, earning some snickers. It hit Ed then—it would have been obvious before, but he was too caught up in what Mark was doing to notice—everyone must think that they'd been in the bushes fooling around.

The thought brought a flush to Edward's face, which probably only served to make him appear more guilty. He sat down hurriedly, trying to ignore the looks, though it was hard to not hear the sigh from a few tables away. "Oh, young love."

* * *

><p>That night, Edward flopped into bed groaning. "This is ridiculous. <em>Nothing happened<em>. What the fuck? I'm a nervous wreck and nothing happened." He fanned himself with his flesh hand—the day had been unseasonably warm, and at this point he was so used to the cold that it was actually uncomfortable.

"Yeah, well, that's not unusual—Mark's obviously going to do _something_, it's just impossible to say _what_ and _when_. We just have to be prepared." Roy laid a hand on Ed's shoulder as the latter sat up. "Shit, you're tense."

"What do you expect?" Edward grumbled, rolling his shoulders to try to relax his muscles. "I was on high alert all day."

"Here, turn around."

Ed raised his eyebrows, but did as he was bid, scooting on the bed so that he sat cross legged with his back to Roy. He jumped slightly as the man's hands found their way to his shoulders and began rubbing. "What are you _doing_?"

"Massaging you," Roy responded simply, as if that were the most natural thing in the world. "It'll make you feel better."

Not bothering to respond, Edward let himself relax into the man's touch as Roy's thumbs began to rub circles in his upper back. Yeah, this was helping. Ed, as Roy moved down his back, soon found himself humming lightly with satisfaction. After a day of being tense, you sort of forget how good it feels to have your muscles be calmed.

Edward had almost been falling asleep, until he felt Roy's hands close around his waist, just above his hips. The man's thumbs continued to work his lower back, and his fingers rested just a little too close to the danger zone.

"Relax, Ed. You were doing fine."

"Your hands…"

"Oh!" Roy pulled back abruptly, and even though Edward had been complaining, he was a little sorry. "My bad. I didn't notice."

Ed thought that Roy was a little bit too gung-ho about that, but decided to let it slide. "Alright, your turn."

"My turn?"

"Yeah. You've gotta be pretty tense as well, right? Lay down and I'll do you." Roy continued to stare at him, making Edward just the slightest bit uncomfortable. "If you don't want me to, just forget it—"

"No, no—you surprised me, is all. Be my guest." And with that, the man stretched out across the bed, lying on his stomach. Sighing lightly, Ed tossed a blanket over Roy's ass—he felt it easier to massage people in this position, but no way was he straddling the man while they were both nude. Nope. Thus settled, Edward hovered over the man and began to get to work.

Roy proved to be somewhat unsettling to massage. First off, the man insisted on laying his head sideways across a pillow and watching Ed out of the corner of his eye. He didn't say anything, but smiled occasionally—and Edward was convinced it was due to some expression on his face, and not the actual massage. The second thing was…he was very distracting. Physically.

Obviously, he was no stranger to muscles—he was in the military after all—but sitting there feeling Roy's back, his shoulders…damn.

The man smiled again, undoubtedly due to the blush on Edward's face.

"Lower, Ed," he murmured. Obliging, Edward moved his hands down to Roy's lower back…but apparently that wasn't good enough. "Lower," he repeated, eyes teasing.

Rolling his eyes, Edward scooted down so that he was perched above Roy's upper thighs, and began to massage the very lowest portion of the man's back.

"Lower," Roy requested once more, voice taking on a sing-song quality.

Ed stopped what he was doing. "You realize lower is your ass." It wasn't a question.

Roy raised his eyebrows and propped himself up on his elbows so he could half-turn and get a better look at Edward. "It gets very tense," he responded solemnly.

"I'm not touching your ass."

All of a sudden Roy busted out laughing. "I had to try." The man rolled over and Ed moved off of him hurriedly, feeling slightly breathless as he tumbled into a horizontal position. Roy pulled him close, almost playful as he kissed…the tip of his nose?

Why the _fuck_ was that adorable?

"Thank you," the man whispered. "That was nice." Edward blinked back, needing a minute to recuperate before replying, which made Roy chuckle again. "Why are you always so surprised when I do that?"

"That was my nose."

"Would you believe me if I said I missed?"

Ed looked at Roy incredulously. "No."

"Good. I didn't." The man grinned cheekily, tightening his grip on Edward. "But still, why surprised?"

"It's not that I'm surprised you're doing it," Ed mumbled, flushing. "I'm surprised that I let you."

Roy locked eyes with him, suddenly very serious, though the corner of his mouth was turned upwards in a smile. "So am I."


	20. Chapter 20

"Ed. Ed, come on, wake up. We have to go to breakfast."

Edward huffed, rolling over to get away from Roy's insistence—or rather, _almost_ rolling over. Because as he moved, Ed became painfully aware of the fact that, once again, he was waking up with a boner.

"Go on without me," Edward mumbled, trying to sound like he was still drowsy, when in fact he was instantly alert. Having gone through this situation once before did _not_ make it better a second time around. In fact, considering that (as far as he could tell) he was alone this time, it was worse. "I'll catch up."

"Yeah, right," Roy snorted, the bed shifting as he stood up. "You'll just sleep all day. Ed, you have to get up, we don't know what might happen…"

Oh. Right. The whole thing with Mark…Edward could have screamed. There was no way Roy was going to leave him lay with something so serious potentially waiting for them at breakfast.

Ideally, Ed would have spent the next minute willing his hard on away by picturing Granny Pinako naked—ew—but at that precise moment, Roy decided it would be a good idea to pull the covers off of Edward.

The room filled with an embarrassed silence for a moment, before Roy rolled his eyes and sighed, "You could have just said you needed to take care of yourself."

"Easy for you to say!" Ed hissed, flushing and yanking the blanket back down so that it covered his nether regions. "Why the hell is it just me? It's not like you're having a problem…"

Roy chuckled. "Because you're a hormonal teenager surrounded by naked people? Honestly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened more. As for me, let's just say…none of the people out there hold my interest."

"What, you think _I'm_ into that? Ugh!" Edward shuddered. "Not at _all_! I just woke up like this!"

"Yeah, well, better go do something about it so we can head off, hmm?"

Irritated and flustered, Ed balled up the blanket he was covering himself with and threw it in Roy's face, scampering out the door while the man was distracted. Stupid. Everything was just so _stupid_.

Around back, Edward rested himself awkwardly _below_ the window, out of sight from the inside. Not that he _really_ thought that Roy would be looking out, but…

Huffing at his train of thought—stupid—Ed went to work mechanically, not really enjoying it, just getting the job done. Oh, it _felt_ good, sure, but Edward was too preoccupied to notice that much at all. He moaned as he finished—that seemed to be a reaction he just couldn't stop—and stood up, marching back around to the side of the house…

…Where he promptly ran into Paul.

Reddening, Ed went straight to shouting. "Paul!? What the—" Edward caught himself just before swearing. "What are you _doing_ here!?"

The man didn't answer him, not really, just looked him up and down. Teeth clenched, Ed growled, "Eyes on my face, thanks."

Unperturbed, Paul did indeed look him in the eye. "Roy didn't do that for you."

If possible, Edward blushed even darker at the very _idea_…"No! I—I just woke up, okay, and—"

"I could have done it," Paul interrupted. "You don't have to do it alone, just because Roy won't help you."

At that, Ed slipped straight past embarrassment to anger, and keeping his tongue civil went right out the window. "I don't _want_ you to do it, jackass!" His language evidently surprised the man before him. Paul furrowed his brows before stepping forward and laying a hand on Edward's shoulder, which the latter promptly threw off. "Don't you fucking touch me!"

* * *

><p>With Ed safely outside, <em>inside<em> the house, Roy was free to let his imagination run wild. Grinning, not particularly ashamed, he sat down on the floor just under the window, ears straining for sound from the outside. He felt himself stiffening just slightly, trying to picture the blonde just past the thin layer of wood in that moment, but…no, it wouldn't do to get himself all worked up. He didn't _really_ have time to treat himself…

There was a tiny moan, and Roy's smile widened. That was Edward settled, then. He heaved himself up off the floor and hovered by the bed, waiting for the boy to come back inside…but Ed didn't come. Roy frowned, wondering if he had been wrong, if the blonde wasn't done…

"Don't you fucking touch me!"

The voice wasn't much muffled by the walls of the house, and it was clearly Edward. Roy didn't even think, just ran out the door and around the side of the house to find (as he had feared—who else would cause this kind of trouble?) Paul standing there, Ed just barely visible behind the man's larger form.

He wasn't about to give Paul time to respond. "Hey," he called, crossing his arms. "I think you've been rejected, Paul."

The man whipped around, expression stormy, though he soon composed himself. "Didn't the same thing happen to you? After all, Ed was out here alone."

Though Roy himself had been listening to Edward, the idea of Paul lurking at the side of their house, maybe even _watching_ the boy…oh, if _only_ he had his gloves on him. A certain somebody would be fucking _roasting_.

"I _wanted _to be alone!" Edward yelled, drawing Paul's attention back to himself. Roy had to spare a second to admire the fact that the blonde didn't seem to be fazed by the fact that an alchemically enhanced man was staring him down with intent. "It's just _morning wood_, I didn't need help, I just needed to take care of it! Not that it's your business, but I'm sure Roy would have come out if I had asked—" The blonde broke off abruptly, face coloring as he seemed to realize what he had just said.

Roy felt as though that was an excellent opportunity to lean around Paul and wink at Edward. "For the record, yes, I would have."

That seemed to make everyone speechless. Grinning, Roy rocked back and forth on his heels, seemingly oblivious to Paul's glares as well as Ed's gaping. Finally, he looked at his wrist. "Oh, look at the time. You should get going, Paul. We're all about to be late for breakfast."

The man looked like he wanted to argue, but thought better of it, skulking off. Putting on a cheery smile, though inside Roy had to admit he was a little worried about the repercussions of what had just transpired, he held out his arm for Edward. "Shall we?"

Silently, the boy approached. He didn't take Roy's arm, but Ed did fall neatly into place beside him.

"Ed?"

He received a hesitant, "Yeah?" in response. Perhaps he'd gone a bit _too_ far—but Roy was only being honest. The blonde would be okay, he was just a little shell-shocked.

"We're going to have to find some other people to sit with at meals after that stunt."

* * *

><p>Mark, apparently, heard about the little…disagreement that had occurred that morning. He stopped Ed and Roy after breakfast, pulling them into his house before they could go off to work. Inside, it was even darker than normal, the fire merely simmering rather than burning. Edward, oddly enough, felt as though he were in some imminent sort of danger, though everyone else (to the best of his knowledge) was gone by now.<p>

Beside him, Roy shifted, full of a jittery sort of energy, ready and raring to go. Briefly, Ed wondered whether it wouldn't just be best to take Mark down now, and be on their way—but no. There could be someone behind Mark, and they would have achieved nothing.

The man began to speak, staring into the embers of the fire. "I hear you got a bit feisty with Paul today, Ed."

Edward gulped, pausing a moment before trusting himself to respond. "I don't feel like I can apologize. He's been harassing me, and this morning—he was coming on to me, to say the least. I've made it clear I don't want that, but he won't let it go."

"I had to intervene," Roy added. "Paul seemed like he was about to get…physical."

Before them, Mark sighed. "Yes, I've heard. And trust me, I spoke to him about that earlier—while we are more open than might be assumed about sex here, we do _not_ allow anything coming close to assault. Don't worry, I've taken care of that."

Somehow, Edward might have felt more reassured if his safety wasn't being promised to him by a man who had gone around altering people for reasons as yet unknown.

"No, I just brought you in here to suggest that you spend a little more time apart," Mark continued. "Or at the very least, make your intentions together clear. Here, we try not to linger in between friend and lover. If you two are not romantically inclined, you would do well to separate more—the confusion is what leads to confrontation. If you _are_—well, best to be open about it."

Ed could not believe he was being lectured like this. Roy stepped in with, "I'm sorry—I didn't realize we weren't being obvious enough. We're most definitely together."

Okay. That was another shock.

Mark was nodding. "I suspected as much." He smiled, suddenly. "You don't have to be shy, you know. Even just holding hands in public lets people know where you stand, and that way no one feels slighted because they knew from the get go they didn't have a chance with either one of you."

"You're absolutely right," Roy responded. "Sorry about all the fuss."

"It's nothing. You may go."

Breaking out of his surprise, Ed expressed his thanks and led the way out. As soon as the door had closed behind them, he hissed, "So, now we're a _couple_?"

"What else was I supposed to do, Ed? We can't afford to be separated, so I chose the only other option available." If Edward hadn't known better, he would have said Roy looked almost pouty as he spoke. Disappointed at the very least. "Does it really bother you that much?"

No. Not really. Though the suggestion should have caused Ed's hair to stand on end, he found the excuse…natural. "No. I just felt like I should have had some say in my relationship status."

Roy grinned, grabbing his hand suddenly. The man didn't speak as they entered the work building—but he did place a kiss on Edward's cheek as they sat down together.


	21. Chapter 21

Tuesday passed in much the same way as Monday and Sunday had; that is, in peace. Of course, Paul was still cold (though not quite hostile) to Ed and Roy, but that was no great loss. No, the big thing was that Mark still had not, by the end of the day, made his move.

And that made Edward very nervous. In their house, he paced the floor while Roy sat on the bed. "It doesn't make any sense," Ed repeated for the thousandth time. "We have to be missing something, he wouldn't go this long without doing anything."

"We aren't missing anything, Ed."

"How do you know?" Edward turned, rounding on Roy, who was (in his opinion) far too calm about the situation. "If we're missing it—"

"There's no way we could miss something involving several overly-muscled people in the community. This isn't the kind of thing Mark can hide, it's too obvious. Just breathe," Roy replied, rolling his eyes.

Edward merely shook his head. "But why would he wait? What if it's happening at night, while we're asleep? We'd never know!"

"But we would see the differences—if they changed something about the community, that would be obvious, and everyone would be able to tell something was going on. And that hasn't happened. And if Mark were forcing everyone he changed _out_ of the community at night, we would be able to tell in the _people_. Their bodies would be tired, even if they didn't remember anything."

"Unless the transmutation removed traces of them being tired," Ed countered.

The man exhaled heavily. "It takes them longer, sure, but haven't you noticed? They still get fatigued. They all still need to eat and sleep and drink. These people have been changed, sure, but they're all still very clearly human. At the _least_, they'd be yawning or something, even if their appearance has changed so that they don't have dark circles or anything, though I doubt Mark would have wasted energy—and the Stone—on something so cosmetically centered."

On some level, Ed _knew_ what Roy was saying made complete sense. But he was far too riled up to let the subject go that easily. "But—"

Roy stood up abruptly and, without a word, swept Edward's feet out from under him, effectively cutting him off. The man caught Ed as he fell, lifting him up into his arms. Edward gaped, mouth opening and closing repeatedly in indignation. "P-put me down!" he finally managed, shouting out as he slapped Roy on the shoulder.

"If you insist," Roy replied, shrugging. The only warning Ed got was a crafty smile, and then he was flung into the air, landing ungracefully with a huff on the bed.

Stunned, Edward merely blinked for a moment, before the sound of Roy's laughter made him frown. He pushed himself up onto his knees, grabbing the man's arm. "Okay, you asked for it." And with that, Ed yanked, putting Roy off balance and causing him to fall onto the bed as well. He didn't waste any time pushing the man further down and climbing atop him, pinning Roy down.

Still chuckling, Roy, completely unconcerned about his current situation, grabbed Edward around the waist, and, of all things, started _tickling _him.

Just because Ed could recognize the situation as ridiculous, didn't mean he could stop himself from laughing. He instantly loosened his grip, to try to bat away Roy's fingers, quickly losing his breath. The sensation was too much, and Edward finally rolled off the man to get away.

His reprieve didn't last long, for Roy followed him, now attempting to pin Ed down—but Edward was ready. Bringing his feet up at the last moment, he kicked Roy away, being careful not to hit the man's junk; somehow, this had turned into a game (a game! Shit, that was immature), and Ed wasn't actually upset enough to cause Roy serious pain.

The man fell back, pin wheeling his arms as he slid off the bed, barely managing to catch himself on his feet. While Roy recovered, Edward sprang to his knees, ready to pull him down when he came back to the bed. However, that wasn't quite what happened—Roy sprang at him, tackling him around the chest and pushing Ed back down again.

The wrestling continued for several minutes, with the duo flip-flopping positions repeatedly, until Roy finally pinned Edward down for the last time. Of course, Ed was loathe to admit defeat, but they were both panting and he just didn't have the energy to fight it.

Once Roy realized Edward was done, he began to laugh, grinning broadly. He bent his head down, pressing a kiss to Ed's forehead. Though the man had done so a thousand times, the action sent a shiver down Edward's spine, and made him painfully aware of just how intimate their situation was: Roy, on top of him, panting and warm and kissing him.

"Roy…?" Ed began slowly, hesitant to say what he felt he needed to. It wasn't that he minded what was happened so much as…well, suffice to say, it wasn't necessarily a good idea. He needed to make sure the boundaries were set—firmly.

"Hmm?" the man hummed, still smiling above Edward. The sight sent a pang through his chest. He quickly repressed the feeling—to begin with, it was more than surprising, and it was also not practical. Not with Roy.

"This…I mean, it's a little…close. I know it's all good fun, but…I mean—you know, despite what you told Mark, we aren't _really_ in a relationship…that was just an excuse to make sure we could keep investigating without interference." The words sounded terrible coming out, and a large part of Ed wanted to take them away—but it was too late.

Roy's grin disappeared, like someone had turned off a light, and he pulled back, coming to rest on his knees at the foot of the bed. His expression was somewhere in between irritation and disappointment. "Yeah, I know. Does that mean I can't just…be close to you?"

"No," Edward added hastily. "I mean…"

"Before, you said you didn't mind. Even me kissing you on the forehead." If Ed hadn't known better, he would have said Roy looked almost…pained. "You said it was fine…so…"

"And it is. It's…kind of nice." Edward flushed, mentally slapping himself for it; that wasn't going to make his position any clearer. "I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I don't want to not be close—this is going to sound stupid, but…the one good thing about this mission is that it's made me able to just relax, when you're around, so I'm not saying to stay away, I'm just…setting boundaries. We're…not a couple."

With a shock, Ed realized how shadowy Roy's face was becoming. Of course, it was only because the sun was setting, but it seemed to fit the somehow somber mood a little too well. "I know that, Ed," Roy murmured, standing up and walking around to his side of the bed, lying down as the bells began to chime. "I just…"

But the man couldn't seem to find the right words. Finally he sighed, whispered, "I'm sorry, okay? I hadn't realized I wasn't being clear about that. Now, let's just…get some sleep, alright?"

And without another word, he wrapped an arm cautiously around Edward's waist and closed his eyes. Though their positions were the same as always, Roy felt much more distant than usual. Scooting into the embrace, Ed tried not to feel the strange regret welling up inside of him—along with the feeling that he'd just, with a few words, fucked something up royally.


	22. Chapter 22

Waking up was an awkward, silent affair, and breakfast was more of the same. What Edward had said last night seemed to have caused a rift between him and Roy, and that disappointed Ed more than he would have thought. He'd often wished he could go back in time—maybe _not_ causing Al to lose his body would be good—and this instance was no exception. But nothing he said had any effect on Roy.

That was another thing—sure, Edward expected the man to be a little put off, but…why was he _so_ upset? If anything, Roy seemed to be even more unhappy than Ed himself.

The fact that it was Wednesday, and they had a sermon to go to, didn't make anything better. As always, Edward situated himself with Roy, and though the man was standing close, he didn't say a word. Surrounded by warm, naked bodies, and with Roy too distant to be a comfort…Ed sighed. Never had the colony been so miserable as now.

Mark walked in, and, as usual, the crowd silenced. He raised his hands, an unnecessary gesture seeing as everyone was already hushed, and began to speak. "Friends, before we begin, I need to make an announcement."

Though Ed had been preparing to drown the man out, _that_ sparked his interest. Mark had said last time that he was done with the "miracles." So what announcement could he possibly have this time?

"I will need everyone who has experienced a miracle to come here tonight. God has some work for you to do."

Edward felt, in that moment, every hair on his body stand on end with anticipation. After waiting what seemed like forever, tense and worried, _this_ was what they'd been waiting for! Mark had to be doing _something_ tonight, and he was stupid enough to tell everyone!

A hand met his shoulder, and Ed turned to find Roy bright-eyed for the first time since last night—obviously the man had picked up on the importance of what Mark was saying as well. Unfortunately, they didn't have the opportunity to discuss it, as everyone then sat down and the sermon began. Positively itching, Edward leaned into Roy, who reciprocated with at least a little more enthusiasm than before.

Mark seemed to drag on forever, and the second he finally let them go, Ed bust through the door, already whispering at lightning speed.

"Tonight, it's tonight, he's getting them all together, we can go and see what happens just like we always do and put an end to it and—why do you think he waited until today?"

Faintly smiling, Roy murmured back, "Because he's been covering up for the transmutations with religion all along. It's less suspicious if everyone knew they were going, and if the people who have been changed feel like they have a reason to go to Mark's house; if he just took control otherwise, they might have a lack of memory that didn't make sense, but if they are there doing whatever with some god, they'll pass it off as normal. Really, it's a very smart plan."

Somehow, the thought that Mark might have put some real thought behind this didn't cheer Edward up. A strong opponent was tough, but could be beaten; someone who was smart and cunning was a lot tougher to deal with. Still, there was one good thing… "We could be going home by tomorrow!"

"Yeah, if we have to intervene tonight, we'll have to just finish up here. But don't count on that—there could be more to the plan that we don't know about. Tonight might just be more observation."

A distant rumble interrupted Ed's response, and when he looked out along the horizon he saw a gray smudge of storm clouds. Edward shivered; it was chilly enough without rain or hail or anything adding to the cold. "It had better not rain."

* * *

><p>It rained.<p>

Within moments after stepping out their door, Ed was soaked. He didn't bother hugging himself; that wouldn't have done anything. Roy sent a sympathetic look his way, but didn't act—there was nothing the man could do, really. So Edward just gritted his chattering teeth and forged onward towards Mark's house.

Once there, he and Roy assumed their normal positions with some difficulty. The rain made Ed's automail slick, and his position was more precarious than he would like. Still, he got up to the window, blurred with rain and fog, and once there peered inside.

He could just barely make out the shapes of Mark with the others surrounding him, seated on the floor as they all had been that morning. There was just one problem—Ed couldn't hear anything but the pounding rain and his verbal shivering. Previously, that hadn't mattered; he'd learned enough just watching. But now, what he saw was more or less useless. He couldn't even distinguish faces, the rain was so bad.

Edward might have found a solution, or at least consulted with Roy, but he didn't have time. A particularly violent shiver made his automail foot slip, and Ed began to fall. He didn't even think, clapping his hands and swinging them towards the building, transmuting a hand hold out of the wall. In that instant, as he clung to the side of Mark's house, he realized two things: one, the flash from his transmutation had most likely been noticed by someone inside and two,_ Roy couldn't use alchemy_. It was raining, flames wouldn't work.

Neither of these thoughts was very encouraging.

Immediately, Ed dropped down to the ground, stumbling slightly. Roy was on him in seconds. "Are you okay!? I'm sorry, I lost my grip, I—"

"Roy!" Edward yelled, no longer concerned with making sure no one inside the building knew they were there. "_You can't use alchemy!_"

The man stared at him, expressionless. "I know."

Before Ed could give Roy a thorough talking to—what was he doing, not considering that, not reminding Edward—a creaking sound alerted him to the door of Mark's house opening.

* * *

><p>Mark stopped speaking, glancing out the window where a bright blue light flashed briefly. He furrowed his brows, then turned back to the assembled crowd. "It seems we have an interruption—again. It's funny," he added, shaking his head, "that they think I haven't noticed."<p>

He looked around, briefly, before a smile spread across his thin face. "Paul. You've got a bit of a grudge against Roy, yes? And I bet you'd like a chance to be with Ed." The other man didn't respond, of course not. How could he, when Mark had control over everything from his movements to his speech? Such an exertion was tiring, to be sure, but _so_ worth it. "Well, why don't you go out and have your fun?"

It did, of course, help that Paul probably would have obeyed this order even if he had free will. As he walked out, Mark closed his eyes, concentrating hard on Paul's until he got a blurry picture of what the other man was viewing. He laughed aloud at that—this was _marvelous! _Why hadn't he tried this out before?

* * *

><p>There was no time to run, nowhere they could hide in time, and so Ed and Roy just sat and waited, the former laced with an anxiety that only increased when they saw the person who had come out was—Paul.<p>

The darkness, the rain, the fear already building in Edward due to Roy's inability to fight—it all made Paul seem like much more of a threat than normal. The man stepped forward, and Ed mirrored his movement without a thought, hands at the ready. With Roy unable to use his alchemy, Edward would have to take control.

He didn't get the chance. Paul, quicker than Ed would have expected, grabbed him around the wrist and yanked him forward, causing Edward to slam into the man. He was _hard_, the muscles of his chest strangely painful, like hitting his face into a stone slab. Still, Ed was tougher than that, and clapped his hands together, placing them on Paul's back even as the man wrapped his arms around Edward in a grip the latter knew he wouldn't be able to break by force.

Ed's intent had been to transmute Paul's skin away, hoping the pain would cause him to let go, but again his actions were interrupted, this time by a shout and the hard sound of skin hitting skin at great speed. Paul loosened his grip and Edward yanked himself away. A second later, as he regained his balance, he heard another slap, and a yell—this time from pain.

Roy staggered away from Paul, a hand cupping the left half of his face as he spat out blood. Fear and nervousness evolved quickly into panic, and Ed started shouting himself, hysterical.

"Stop! Stop!" That was all he could manage to say as he grabbed Roy and pulled him away from Paul, his breathing coming short and fast. Paul just stood, watching them.

* * *

><p>Mark, inside the building, gritted his teeth as sweat poured down his forehead. Prolonged control, especially when Paul was in pain, was taking quite a toll on him. To be honest, he felt his hold wouldn't last much longer under these conditions, which was a bit of a let down—he hadn't intended to let Roy and Ed live. But from the looks of it, he'd done something, at least: distract Ed and Roy from getting in his way. It was funny—they couldn't even tell how they felt about each other! Just like so many people, they were completely blind. Now, Edward would definitely be mad at Roy for interfering, and Roy would be defensive about his move. That should be enough to get them out of his hair for a while.<p>

Breathing a sigh of relief, Mark directed Paul back inside.

* * *

><p>Edward almost died of shock when Paul turned tail and went back. Why? That was the question, only he didn't have the time to think about the answer. Instinctively, he turned, grabbing Roy's hand and running back to their house. No, it wasn't safe, but the idea in that moment was to get <em>away<em>.

"Why are we running?" Roy asked, breathing hard.

"You'll at least not be hindered by water in the house," Ed panted back. The man had no argument for that.

As soon as the duo cleared the doorway, Edward rounded on Roy, even doubled over and breathless as they both were. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?"

"That that son of a bitch was going to either kill you or rape you," the man answered, raising an eyebrow. Ed desperately hoped that the shadows forming around his eye were from the dark, though he knew that it was more likely a black eye was the cause.

"But you couldn't fight!" Edward argued. "I could have used alchemy, I was going to be fine!"

"I couldn't just sit there and watch you take him on without helping, Ed!"

"Helping by getting yourself hurt!? Why the _fuck _would you think that was a good idea?" Ed yelled, furious now that he was out of immediate danger. Roy was an idiot, thinking he needed to defend him like that!

"Do you seriously not know?" Roy's voice was quiet, contrasting strangely with Edward's shouts, and in the dim light Ed thought the man looked sad. "You can't tell? I thought it was obvious enough."

"No…?" Edward responded, trailing off in a question.

"Why I hold you at night, all the time, all night long? Why I could kill Paul right now with my bare hands? Why I kiss your forehead and why I'm so eager to be around you in general? Why I teased you about helping you jerk off, and why I was more than happy to pretend we were in a relationship the other day?" Roy was becoming exasperated, looking at Ed almost in desperation. "You really don't know?"

Though Edward thought he might know exactly where Roy was going, he couldn't admit it. Heart racing, throat suddenly dry, he shook his head slowly, not daring to break eye contact with the man.

Roy threw his hands up. "Damn it Ed, it's because I love you!"


	23. Chapter 23

Edward's heart was racing at such speed he thought it might burst. Roy…loved him. Was that a surprise? No, not particularly—just as the man had pointed out, he'd been fairly obvious with all the affection he'd given Ed of late. It was just that Edward had been trying his hardest to ignore those signs.

Not because he didn't care about Roy as well. As soon as he'd heard those words, Ed felt a warmth spread out from his chest to the tips of his extremities, no longer shivering even though he was drenched. In truth, nothing could have thrilled Edward more than hearing that Roy loved him, because…well, _he_ loved _Roy_.

But there was a reason he'd been trying to push away the man's feelings, and his own to boot, and as Roy stood there, Ed blurted it out unthinkingly.

"What about the women?"

Staring blankly, Roy blinked. "What?"

Ed didn't want to have to explain this—he shouldn't have to, actually. "All the women. Havoc's always complaining about you stealing his girlfriends, and you're always flirting with the female officers, and the few times I've stayed late enough to see you leave, you meet up with girls when you walk out…" Edward trailed off—voicing his doubts hurt more than he would have expected. He turned away from Roy, bringing up a hand to begin to detangle his hair as he finished. "You're…kind of around them a lot, you know."

Behind him, Ed heard Roy sigh, and the floorboards creaked as he stepped a little closer. "There's such a thing as being able to like _both_ genders, you know. And—"

Irritated, Edward shook his head jerkily, interrupting. "No, I know—it's more the fact that there's so _many_ of them! You just…" He gulped, composing himself. "You just fuck them, right? And then go on you merry way. You don't…love to you, it isn't love so much as lust, is it? You—" Ed broke off, blushing, but he had to continued. Shakily, he kept going. "You might want my _ass_, but…I don't think that counts as love."

The room filled with silence aside from the pattering of rain outside, becoming fainter as the storm let up. When Roy finally spoke up to defend himself, he was quiet, resigned.

"I don't know if I can make you believe what I'm about to say. That's up to you. But…the women, it's not because I want them. I have devoted pretty much my whole life to my job. I want to become Fuhrer and make this country a better place, and if to do that I have to deal with a bit of character defamation, I will."

He paused, and Ed heard the soft sound of Roy sitting on the bed. He chanced a glance around—the man was resting his elbows on his knees, hands covering his face as he tried to figure out which words to use. "First off, let me say that with Havoc, it's never a matter of wanting to fuck them—I'm just a bit of an ass and I like messing with him. As for the officers…that's a bit of manipulation, I'm not going to lie. A female officer can convince her higher ups, if they're men, to do pretty much anything by amplifying the sex factor. When I need to have a decision made that's out of my power, the female officers can flirt with their bosses in a way I can't. And to get them on my side, _I_ flirt with _them_."

Despite the bundle of negative emotions resting in Edward's chest, he had to smile at that—it was just _so_ Roy, using his charm to make others do the same to his advantage. But, still, Roy hadn't addressed everything.

"Sit down, Ed."

Edward debated a moment, until Roy lifted his head and looked into his face, eyes pleading. His heart lurched, and Ed sat on the edge of the bed, though not too close.

The man smiled lightly. "I have to know—before I keep going—it's pointless for me to give away all my secrets if it doesn't matter. How do you feel about _me_? Because if your only concern is how much I can care about you, I can fix that. But if you don't love me as well…then I'll just stop talking now."

Cheeks flaring, Ed brought his feet up to the bed, wrapping his arms around his legs and resting his chin on his knees. He stared resolutely at the wall as he responded, "I _do_ love you. That's the problem. I can't let myself care about you like that if you're just in it for the physical. Call me a stupid romantic, fine. But I'm not doing that to myself. That's why—I've been trying to not admit it, trying to not see you coming on to me, because…I don't know if I can take it if you fuck me and then leave me."

A hand came to rest on his shoulder. Edward couldn't be bothered to shake it off. He was so…_scared_, having been so honest like that, because now that the words had been said aloud, he couldn't take them back, couldn't pretend anymore. Shit, he was stupid, setting himself up for a broken heart like that.

"I have an aunt," Roy began abruptly, "named Madame Christmas. She runs a bar—you wouldn't know it, it's in a pretty suspicious area—and so she has direct contacts with the criminal world. She's a very valuable informant for me. But think about how obvious it would be if I were to make clear my connection with her."

The man stopped, waiting for Ed to answer, and so he complied. "Very obvious. Everyone would know there was something there if you were always around her, considering you're a Colonel."

"Exactly," Roy agreed. "So she has the girls who work for her relay messages to me. It _looks_ like I just mess around with a bunch of women—which isn't a great character trait, but doesn't get me in trouble. In reality, I'm just gathering information and tips from them. I've never _fucked_ any of them."

Edward bit his lip, thinking that over. If it was true…and why would Roy lie to him? The man wasn't perfect, but he wouldn't lie. Not like this.

The mattress shifted as Roy scooted closer to Ed, laying an arm across his shoulders. "I mean it, Ed. I'm not like that. I really do love you. If I had only wanted to fuck you, it would've already happened."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Edward laughed at that. "How do you figure?"

Roy chucked as well. "If that was my goal, I would have spent plenty of time pushing for it. But it's not—yeah, I love being close to you, but I never tried to _seriously_ take it further because I value you more than that."

Suddenly Ed felt incredibly stupid. Was he really that paranoid? He'd wasted so much time doubting Roy, pushing away any and all feelings, when he could have spent that time with him…

Edward turned his head abruptly, before he could lose his resolve, and pressed his lips against Roy's. The man smiled victoriously into the kiss, pushing forward with an unexpected gusto that made Ed gasp. In that moment, he became very…_very_…aware that they were both naked.

Sure, they'd been nude the whole time they'd been at the colony, but it had never been quite so obvious to Edward as in that moment. And it wasn't just a thought, either; it was a tingling all over his body that made him press against Roy unthinkingly, something that made him almost uncomfortably warm despite the water all over the both of them.

Evidently, he wasn't alone in this feeling. Roy moaned, fingers gripping around his waist, an action that sent shivers down Ed's spine. The man finally pulled away, only to tilt his head and press his half-open mouth to Edward's neck, making the latter gasp.

In the back of Ed's mind, a thought nagged him. Something about why they were all wet…

Oh. Right.

"Roy," he whimpered. No. That wasn't right. "Roy!"

"Hmm?" the man breathed.

"Shouldn't we really be doing something else right now?"

Roy laughed against his neck. "Someone's eager."

Blushing at the implication, Edward focused on making his voice a little stronger. "No! About Mark!"

That finally got Roy's attention. He sighed, coming up for air, pressing one last, quick kiss to Ed's lips. "Alright, fine. Let's get going." And with that, he stood, pulling Edward up as well before walking over to the door.

"Without a plan?" Ed asked skeptically, trailing behind. "After all, you still can't use your alchemy."

Roy chuckled, smiling warmly at him. "Haven't you noticed, Ed? The rain's stopped."


	24. Chapter 24

Walking along the path to Mark's house, Edward was struck by the lack of nervousness he felt. Before, he'd been eager, sure, to get everything over with, but he'd been incredibly anxious as well. Now…Ed was full of confidence. Of _course_ they could take down this asshole. Having confessed to Roy, and knowing how Roy felt about him…well, in that moment, Edward felt like he could take on the world with his hands tied behind his back.

Still though, they were cautious, coming up to the building. Now they'd seen what the transmuted people were like in a fight, and they weren't something to joke around about. Roy went around the back, to where they usually ate meals, and Edward followed unquestioningly, watching as the man bent for a moment over the fire pit.

"What are you doing?" Ed whispered as Roy stood back up and headed back towards the front of the house.

"Transmutation circles," Roy answered faintly, holding up his fists for Edward to see. Just barely visible in the glow of the moonlight were two ashy circles drawn on the backs of Roy's hands. That was smart—Roy was actually thinking this through—but he'd forgotten something.

"Where's your lighter?"

The man smiled, and winked at Ed before walking on ahead, sticking close to the side of the building as they drew nearer to the entrance. Roy tip toed up the steps to the front door, Edward following even more carefully, barely daring to place any weight on his automail foot. In front of the door, Roy paused, mouthing, "We go in on three. Focus on Mark. One, two…"

Ed charged inward as Roy kicked open the door, his eyes darting around in the dim glow of the fire. There was a surprised shout to his left, and Edward spun that way, eyes searching for a smaller figure. Muscles, muscles—suddenly there was an arm swinging in his direction. Ed ducked down, pulling his leg around as he did so, and…

Whoever it was that had aimed for him fell to the ground, a heavy thud ringing out. He stood back up, eyes peeled for more action, when suddenly the room became illuminated, Roy having done his thing and lit up the fireplace so that it was now blazing.

"Thanks!" Ed shouted, looking around again. Everything was so much clearer now, but still, Edward couldn't help but get distracted for a moment, wondering where in the hell Roy had pulled that lighter from…

A sharp pain hit him square in the back, a reward for not paying attention. Ed shouted out as he fell, barely catching himself on his hands before he hit the floor with his face. Strange, that had surprised him, and obviously it _hurt_, but the kick had none of the strength Paul had displayed earlier…

Edward scrambled to his feet, turning to face his opponent. It was a woman, someone who'd been transmuted before he arrived in the colony. Despite her having just attacked him, Ed felt a pang of pity—it wasn't her fault, after all. This woman was probably perfectly nice when Mark wasn't controlling her. Well…he'd get it over with quickly. He jabbed once, twice, three times, and she dropped. Pressure points weren't usually his style—a kick around the face said a lot more and still hurt like a bitch—but in this case, they were more merciful.

Though he wasn't watching, Ed assumed Roy was using a similar technique, for though he heard the sounds of flesh connecting and people falling, he didn't see any of the flames he would usually expect. Obviously the man didn't want to cause any serious damage.

Suddenly, from the middle of the room came a loud, angry, strangled sort of sound, and almost everyone in the room fell to the floor simultaneously. Everyone aside from Paul, Simon, and Mark, who was standing behind his two bodyguards and sweating profusely. Immediately abandoning everyone else, Edward started towards the trio, Roy mirroring him across the room. Simon and Paul stepped forward as well.

Roy got to Paul first, clicking the lighter and sending a shot of flame across the other man's chest. This surprised Ed so much he almost didn't move out of the way in time, Simon's punch just barely missing his cheek. "I thought we were aiming for Mark!" Edward shouted.

"Not with this son of a bitch," Roy yelled back, clicking again as Paul went for his head, fire wrapping around the latter's arm. "Do you know how long I've wanted to kick his ass?"

Despite his lack of willingness to hurt anyone innocent, Ed couldn't quite argue with that—especially because he wasn't sure Paul counted as innocent. Instead, he focused on Simon, who was aiming another punch at him. Edward dropped to the ground, clapping his hands as he went, causing the floor to shoot upward in a column. He heard something crack as Simon's fist collided with it, though Ed couldn't say whether it was fingers or the floor. Simon, he did think was pretty harmless, and so Edward was a little guilty about hurting the man, but…well, Simon had been changed a lot more than anyone else, and he had to think about self-preservation as well.

And so Ed laced his fingers together and slammed his hands down on the man's head, jumping off his column and sliding down Simon's back while he was distracted. Now that he had a clear shot at Mark—

But apparently Simon wasn't affected by the pain, because two strides forward and Edward was yanked backwards, the man's hands closing around his waist and lifting him into the air. Ed had just enough time to register what was going to happen before he was tossed, crashing into the column. All the air was driven from his lungs and Edward slid to the floor, coughing, the taste of blood from a bitten cheek filling his mouth.

Light filled his vision, and Ed looked up to see fire shooting across Simon's chest. He coughed again, forcing himself to stand up even as he struggled to regain his breath. If he didn't get it together, Roy was going to end up getting hurt because he was too busy worrying about him.

The flames didn't seem to be bothering Simon any more than Ed's hits had—he was patting out the fire with his bare hands. In fact, nothing seemed to be enough to break through Mark's control long enough for Edward to actually get past the man. Except, maybe…

The thought was crude, but it was one of the most painful things Ed could think of. He muttered a quick, "Sorry, pal," stepped forward, and raised his automail leg, kicking Simon in the balls as hard as he could.

Finally, that seemed to get through. Both Simon and Mark screamed, with the former automatically bringing his hands down to his crotch. Not about to miss his chance, Edward vaulted over Simon as he dropped to his knees, and ran at Mark as fast as he could.

Now, Ed was mainly an alchemist, yes, but he'd been trained to fight hand to hand as well, and part of combat was paying attention. Even as he ran, Edward analyzed Mark: the man was sweating profusely, shaking, hands clenched in concentration.

No! Not _hands_, plural, _hand_! Just one, and peeking out from inside Mark's grip was…the Philosopher's Stone, what little was left of it. Ed made the connection: part of the Stone was in each person along with a part of Mark, therefore Mark needed a bit of the Stone to control them. It was a wild theory, but on some level it made sense, and so Edward acted without thinking, punching Mark hard enough in the chest to make the man fall. Even as he fell, he didn't drop the Stone, so Ed brought his foot down on Mark's wrist.

The easy, sickening snap echoed around the room, and Mark's hand opened up as he cried out in pain. Edward kicked the Stone away, and as soon as it was out of contact with Mark, Paul stopped in the middle of fighting Roy, moaning and stumbling as the pain of his burns finally reached his brain.

Without his puppets, and in pain to boot, Mark looked ten times more pathetic. Roy walked over to stand beside Ed, and together they just stared at the man on the floor. It wasn't as though they could kill him; that wouldn't be right. And without the Philosopher's Stone he wasn't able to do any real harm, not with his body as wasted as it was.

After a short while Mark regained his breath, and looked at them. "I knew about you two," he rasped. "Right from the beginning. These idiots here, they might not have recognized you, but I did. Fullmetal and Flame, the two great State Alchemists."

That was a little surprising. "So why didn't you do anything?" Ed asked.

"Who better to use as target practice than the military's finest?" Mark hissed, anger flaring in his eyes. "I didn't think it would be so hard, though…controlling everyone…"

Pride. Wasn't that the typical flaw? Logically, it's hard enough to force your own body to withstand a fight, let alone so many other people, all at once, as weak as Mark had made himself…really, Edward didn't see how he was surprised. The man had thought himself better than he was, plain and simple.

Roy was thinking the same thing. "How'd you expect to be able to handle everyone at once? Even with a Philosopher's Stone, that's a lot to take on."

"I wasn't going to be able to do anything with just a few people. I had to push myself, or otherwise there would be no point."

Ah. Now they were getting somewhere. "So what was the point?" Edward asked. "Why bother with all of this?"

Oddly enough, Mark grinned. "You should know, I'm only telling you because it doesn't matter. I don't know anything important." The man heaved himself to his knees, Ed watching closely to make sure he didn't go for the Stone, which was still lying within reach. "Religion isn't appreciated by your government, especially not mine. I don't have some huge, complicated scheme; I just wanted revenge, for being forced to either conform or leave."

"So where did you get the Stone?" Roy interrupted. "And why? For someone like you who just wants revenge, you sure went in a roundabout way. Did you even know alchemy before?"

The light from the fire danced across Mark's face, making his smile seem all the more sinister. "No, I didn't, and learning enough to make this work took time. But I was ready for any opportunity. One night, a man came up to me—I couldn't describe him even if I wanted to help you bastards, it was so dark—and told me exactly what to do. He said he'd come back when I was done with my job and tell me what to do next, but I figured, once I had all these slaves, I could just use them for my own means. And so when he handed me the Stone, I took it without hesitation."

As Mark spoke, a certain foreboding rose up in Ed. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but something didn't feel right…

"You're telling me you don't know who it was," Roy prompted, continuing the interrogation and seeming unfazed by the sudden weight in the air that Edward felt.

"Exactly," Mark confirmed, grinning wildly. "And I don't expect I'll get to find out."

Seconds later, the ceiling above Mark cracked, large sections falling to the floor. Roy jumped backwards, pushing Ed out of the way of the falling debris as well. Shocked, they didn't have time to react as a dark, wild shape dropped down from the rafters, grabbed the Philospher's Stone and _swallowed_ it, of all things, before making quick work of Mark by snapping his neck and jumping back up to disappear through the gaped hole he came in through.

All of this happened far too fast for Edward or Roy to react. They stood, stunned, for several crucial seconds before they got the bright idea to go outside and try to catch up with the mystery attacker, who was, in all likelihood, the same person who had given Mark the Stone in the first place. After all, who else would act like that? Ed ran ahead, barreling through the door with his arms raised to fight.

But the night was still, calm, and, to any casual observer, absolutely peaceful, filled only by the faint sound of drizzling as the rain began again.


	25. Chapter 25--End

Emotionally and physically drained, Edward and Roy headed slowly back to their house. Neither one could seem to speak, though Ed did grab onto Roy's hand as they walked. Obviously, he'd expected to beat Mark, but to have the man end up dead was something he hadn't anticipated. Mark dying at the hands of some mysterious figure that could apparently disappear into thin air was even more unbelievable.

As they crossed into the room, Edward couldn't help but laugh lightly. "It's funny, isn't it? We haven't really been here that long, but this already feels so natural. It's almost strange to be leaving."

Roy chuckled as well. "True, but I think it's safe to say this is for the better. I think I'll like to have some clothing on for a change."

Shuddering, Edward agreed as he walked towards the bed. "Yeah, I'm going to be stuck wearing turtlenecks for the rest of my life to get over how much I've been exposed here."

Suddenly there were hands wrapping around his waist, and Roy pulled him back, bending to press a kiss to the top of his head. "Aw, but Ed, I'm going to miss seeing you like this…" The man moved down, slowly leaning even further to kiss Edward's neck.

Ed blushed to the roots of his hair, shivering slightly. "Why? I'm sure you're going to have plenty of opportunities to get me naked again."

Pushing Edward forward, Roy spun him around and pressed him to the bed, hovering over him and whispering in his ear, "I'm counting on it." And then he was kissing Ed, and damned if Edward wasn't pressing back with equal enthusiasm. It was so nice, after all the stress they'd been through, to have Roy wrapping his arms around him, to have the man's lips crushing against his own.

Moaning lightly, Ed lifted his legs, crossing his ankles behind Roy's back. The man's breathing against his mouth hitched and Edward grinned, taking advantage of the break in kissing to move down and lick at the hollow of Roy's throat. Tasty.

The man hummed, twisting around to bite Edward's earlobe, teeth teasing. It was funny, Ed had heard about this kind of thing—he _was_ a teenager, after all, it was his job to know about this stuff—but he'd always thought the ear thing was kind of stupid.

Not anymore.

Edward whimpered and turned, forcing Roy's mouth back onto his own, fingers tangling in the man's hair. He just couldn't get enough of everything, Roy being so close, surrounding him so completely and wonderfully…

Eventually the man broke for air, panting above Ed. Roy's eyes shone, even as he smiled regretfully. "It's sad, you know. I've got you right where I want you, but after watching that…it hardly feels right, you know?"

Unfortunately, Ed did know. A part of him desperately wanted to continue, but more of him was still reeling from the unexpected events at Mark's house, and making out with Roy hadn't even managed to make him hard, he was so distracted. "Yeah," he sighed. Then his face broke out into a wide grin. "Still. Like I said, you'll have plenty more chances to get what you want."

"Teasing little shit," Roy growled playfully, bringing a hand down to grab Edward's ass. The motion was so surprising, and oddly electrifying, that he almost decided to insist they keep going.

But no.

Roy rolled off of Ed and onto the mattress, laughing at his expression. He pulled Edward against his chest, and for a moment Ed just sat there, listening to the gradually slowing sound of the man's heartbeat.

"I'm so glad we came here," he whispered. "I never expected to end up with this."

Lips on his head. It appeared that even though Roy was now at liberty to do more—_much_ more—that was still one of his favorites. "I know. You're such a hard ass in the office, I never got to find out how sweet you were until now."

"Shut up," Edward grumbled. "You're one to talk, always all composed. Then suddenly we come here and you're all clingy and shit."

At that, Roy squeezed Ed, holding him tighter for a moment. "Can't help it. Don't want to help it."

"I don't want you to either."

Edward closed his eyes, slowing his breathing to match Roy's. It had been a stressful mission, that was for sure, but he was going home tomorrow. And even more than that, he'd gotten Roy out of the deal.

Not too shabby.

* * *

><p>Stretching, Ed sat up slowly. "I didn't even get to sleep, did you?"<p>

"No," Roy responded, yawning. "It's not like we had that much time, and I was a bit riled up."

"Yeah…" Edward agreed, standing. "Hey, get off the bed for a second."

Raising his eyebrows in a silent question, Roy obeyed, straightening up and stepping away. Once the man was clear, Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the covers, transmuting the blankets into two pairs of pants and two simple t-shirts. "There we go."

Roy laughed. "I was wondering what you were up to. Good thinking—Mark probably burnt the clothes we came in or something crazy like that." Without further ado, the man grabbed one pair of pants and pulled them on. Edward watched, laughing at himself; he was almost sad to see the man's legs disappear under the cloth.

Then again, it was a nice thought to know that he would be the only person who would get to take the clothing back off from now on.

Smiling at the idea, Ed dressed as well. "This is horrible," he muttered.

"What?" Roy asked, pulling his head through a shirt.

"It feels _weird_ to be wearing clothes," Edward moaned. "That's so pathetic."

"Yeah, well, you'll get used to it, I'm sure. Now…" Roy trailed off, but Ed knew what he was thinking.

"Cleanup?"

"Yeah. We should probably wake everyone up and explain what happened…"

Edward nodded. "We have to, we can't just leave them and have them find Mark in there. Especially the people he changed, they deserve to know what happened to them."

Sighing, Roy gestured to the door. "Shall we?" Ed took his hand, nodding once more, and they headed out the door for the last time.

The morning was wet with the rain from last night, and still cool, but the clothing, meager as it was, definitely helped warm them up. In no time at all, Roy and Edward were once again entering Mark's house.

Everyone there was already awake, looking confused and disoriented; it appeared they had arrived just in time.

"Listen up, everyone," Roy called. "_Please_ try to stay calm."

Though they all looked fearful, these people were far too used to obeying orders to question Roy. Only one man seemed unable to contain himself, squealing as he saw Mark's body.

"I can explain, if you just give me a moment," Roy continued. Edward decided it was best to let him do the talking. "First off, I have to come clean; me and Ed are from the military. No, we aren't here to force you all to come back to regular society, so calm down. We were sent to investigate accounts of Mark transmuting people. Do any of you know what transmutation means?"

Several people shook their heads, so Ed jumped in to explain. "Basically, it just means he was changing people. The makeup of their bodies and such."

One woman's eyes grew wide as she looked down at herself, evidently connecting the dots. Roy went on gently, "Every time he said one of you was coming in for a miracle, he was actually changing your bodies." There were several gasps in the audience then, and Edward felt a pang of pity for them. He knew what it felt like to have your body transmuted, but that had been his own doing. To have someone alter you like that, without your knowledge…that must be horrible.

"Now, obviously, you can see the physical changes, but you were also changed on the inside. I know this is tough to hear, but bear with me. Mark added a part of a special Stone and a part of himself inside each of you, so that he could control you all."

Out of everyone assembled, it _had_ to be Paul that spoke up. "Mark wouldn't do that," he protested.

Roy rolled his eyes, irritation creeping into his expression. "Can you remember what happened last night? Why you woke up here instead of in bed? Mark took over you and forced you all to fight me and Ed."

Most everyone was murmuring in horrified agreement. Paul still looked a little suspicious, but at least didn't say anything, so Roy continued. "Mark ended up being killed by the person who gave him the Stone. I'm really very sorry for you all, but it's better now that he's gone. You can find a new leader, and keep living here in the community—we aren't here to stop you from going on with your life."

"But can we?" Simon piped up, voice hollow. Ed winced at the sound; it made sense for him to be more concerned than the others, with his severely transmuted body. "With all the changes, how can we just…keep going?"

"Well, with Mark gone, the inner changes will be useless now, so they won't affect you. As for the physical, we can't really fix that, but that's not all bad. At least you're safe now, and besides, no one else here is going to judge you for it. You'll be fine."

The crowd nodded, mutely agreeing. Edward would have expected uproar, but this was probably just such a shock that no one was able to muster up an intense reaction. That would come later, once he and Roy left, hopefully. He was no good with calming people down.

"Now, I'm going to give you all a few minutes to go to your houses and rest—you need it. Then I'm going to wake everyone else up and explain to them the situation. You all can just stay in bed and deal with everything later. As for you, Paul," Roy added, voice lacking the guilt it maybe should have had, "you might want to get someone to look at those burns. Someone here has to be good with wounds, right?" A few people nodded, so he went on, "Same goes for you, Simon. With, um, you know."

Edward grimaced. He might have been a little over zealous last night.

They stood, waiting as everyone slowly made their way out of the building. Once they were alone, Roy let out a heavy sigh. "It's always so hard delivering news like that. How are you supposed to tell people their world just fell apart?"

Lifting an arm, Ed rubbed tiny circles in the center of Roy's back. "Hey, you did a great job. You didn't make it so much that everything is gone, more that they can now fix all the problems they didn't even know they had."

The man smiled lightly, wrapping an arm around Edward's waist and pulling him close for a quick hug. "One more time. Let me explain just one more time, and then we can go home."

With that promise in mind, the next half hour or so was a bit of a blur for Ed. Roy rang the bells, everyone came out, and he explained the same story over again. This group was much more rowdy with their response, but eventually Roy calmed them down.

And they said their goodbyes.

And the next thing Edward knew, he was walking down the road, hand in hand with Roy, looking for the nearest town so they could phone the nearest military headquarters and get a car.

Maybe it was the fact that they were walking barefoot, and that once they had actually found a town everyone stared at them oddly, but somehow it didn't sink in with Ed that he was going home—that everything was going to be normal—until he was actually in the back seat of a military vehicle with Roy.

He leaned backwards against the upholstery—it was a _lot_ better than the floors he'd gotten used to sitting on—reclining slightly against Roy. "It's so crazy to think that we're going back now. I mean…I know it hasn't _really _been that long, but somehow it feels like everything's changed."

Roy laughed lightly. "Not at all. Didn't I say? We have some work to do as soon as we get back to Central."

Indignant, Edward sat back up, turning slightly to face the man next to him. "You've got to be kidding me! What _now_?"

"Apparently there's a man loose in Central—the Freezing Alchemist. I'm hoping everyone else will have it settled when we get there, but we might have to step in."

Ed groaned, letting himself settle back down. So nothing had changed while they were gone—except their relationship. The thought struck Edward in an oddly unpleasant way as he considered how it might be when they were at home, around everyone else again. "Hey…Roy?"

"Yeah?"

Fidgeting, Edward tried to figure out how to word his question. "What about…you and me? What's going to happen when we get back?"

Again, Roy chuckled. "What, you think that just because we're in a different place I won't feel the same way about you?"

"No, not that…it's just…not going to be the same. I mean, you can't go around kissing my head all the time or anything, and I can't just come up and hug you…"

Next to him, Roy shrugged. "So what? That only applies to when we're at work, and everyone has to act more official there. But that doesn't mean it won't be the same after hours." Seeing Edward still looking disgruntled, Roy added, "Look, Ed, I love you. And if I can't show that during the day, I'll just have to be even more affectionate at night."

Grinning at the thought, Edward reached out a hand and grabbed Roy's own, twining their fingers. "I think I can handle that."

"You haven't seen me yet—it might be too much for you."

Blushing even as he laughed, Ed turned his attention to the window, watching the scenery pass by. They'd just finished a huge mission (and hadn't actually found out as much as they would like to, so technically it was still an ongoing investigation) and were headed home to yet another one. But even with all that stacked against him, Edward knew he could take whatever the world threw at him.

He'd always had Al on his side, and now he had Roy as well. With two people who meant so much to him and supported him to such a degree, how could he not?


	26. Author's Note

**Just a few things I want to say about this story:**

**1) I know some people are going to be disappointed that there wasn't any lemon. How could I write a story in a nudist colony and not give the boys some fun time? But I wanted to make a point that just because they could do the sex doesn't mean they have to, and that it can be a really good story without all that (in my opinion). Also it just didn't fit with the plot line. So...sorry?**

**2) I would hope this would be obvious, from the tidbit about the Freezing Alchemist at the end there, but this was meant to be a sort of prequel to Brotherhood. Hence why they didn't know that the thing that dropped in and killed Mark was a homunculus. I know that seems like a bit of a cop out so I don't have to explain it and keep going, but I actually wish I could continue with this story. It was a blast to write, but I've tried writing within the timeline of the anime and it just never works well for me. I change too much and make the story less amazing than it already was, which is the exact opposite of what I would like to do. So for this one, I put it before hand, so it ends up being just another encounter that they would be able to make sense of later. If you ask me, that makes more sense contextually and doesn't diminish the original storyline, so I'm pretty happy with it.**

**As always, thank you all so much for reading this. It's gotten just over 280 reviews as of now, which is a new high for me (by a big margin) and I can't even begin to explain how much that means to me. All I can say is: thank you again, and I hope to see you guys stick around for the stories I write next :)**


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